JOSE V. ROMERO JR., PHD.
THE announcement by the Duterte administration that it would adopt an independent foreign policy in line with the constitutional mandate dropped like a bombshell. Many took this as a pivot to China at the expense of the United States, an “apertura a sinistra” as the Italians would say. It did not help that the president embroidered his colorful statements against President Obama and the Europeans, perceived by most as anti-Western sentiments with strong implications regarding the defense partnership with the US.