President Marcos Jr.'s pragmatic foreign policy

ONE of the failures of former president Rodrigo Duterte is in the arena of foreign policy, particularly in how he dealt with China. Duterte thought that appeasing China would safeguard the interest of the Philippines in the region. Coming from the image of a candidate who boldly announced that he would ride a jetski in the choppy waters of the West Philippine Sea bearing our flag to assert our sovereignty, as president he turned toward China to a point that his acquiescence was simply palpable.