Philippines | Duterte softens tone on US before South China Sea talks

President Rodrigo Duterte gestures while addressing army troopers during the 120th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Army

The Philippines appears to be softening its tone toward the U.S. before holding talks with Beijing on the South China Sea.

President Rodrigo Duterte let the insults fly last year, telling former leader Barack Obama to “go to hell” for opposing his drugs war and announcing a “separation from the U.S.” during a trip to Beijing. He also sought to buy more military equipment from Russia.

Now Duterte’s government wants the U.S. to actively promote security and cooperation in the South China Sea, according to acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo. He downplayed any friction between the longstanding military allies.

“Our relationship with the U.S. is strong and vibrant,” Manalo, who was appointed last month, said Friday in an interview in his Manila office. “The key is not letting these rough patches affect the core of the relationship.”

The friendlier posture toward the U.S. comes as tensions rise with China after an official said it would install monitoring stations on the disputed Scarborough Shoal, about 250 kilometers off the Philippines coastline. While the Philippines accepted China’s offer to host bilateral talks next month over disputes in the sea, mixed messages continue to flow from Manila.

“China has been causing some problems, doing things in and around the South China Sea, even in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, that go against what Duterte may have wanted,” said Malcolm Cook, senior fellow at the Institute for South East Asian Studies in Singapore.

“And Manalo, as a longstanding career diplomat, may reflect the government view which is different from the Duterte view, that the U.S. is the Philippines’ most important economic partner and security partner.”

Duterte said last week that the Philippines should occupy and inhabit disputed land features in the South China Sea to assert ownership. While the comments were quickly walked back by his spokesman Ernesto Abella, they mark a stark contrast from when Duterte reaped USD24 billion worth of investment deals on his Beijing trip last year.

“We must build bunkers there or houses and make provisions for habitation,” he told reporters in Palawan province. Duterte even threatened to go to a disputed island himself and raise the Philippine flag.

Manalo, a career diplomat who was appointed after his predecessor was removed, said a meeting between Duterte and U.S. President Donald Trump later this year was being worked out. Manalo said he expected to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson next month.

“We have a long relationship with the U.S. and we look forward to building on that,” Manalo said. “With China, we are building bridges to improve our relationship.”

Manalo said that no specific date had been set for the May bilateral talks with China to discuss issues of concern in the South China Sea. The talks weren’t the only forum for discussions with Chinese officials, he said, citing recent meetings between economic policy makers as well as the Coast Guards.

Manalo said last year’s international court ruling rejecting China’s claims to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea would be at the back of Philippine officials’ minds during the negotiations.

“As far as we are concerned, the ruling is already part of law,” Manalo said.

Still, Duterte’s administration is still seeking to balance ties between China, one of its largest trading partners, and the U.S., which has been the Philippines’ closest ally since independence in 1946.

“We would like to see the U.S. and China in the region undertake a role here where they promote stability and also promote cooperation,” said Manalo. “That’s the positive role we would like to see, not only us but all the countries in the region.” MDT/Bloomberg

Pag-asa Island, part of the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the South China Sea located off the coast of western Philippinesresources, are also claimed in whole or partly by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Investors confused

The uncertainty generated by Duterte’s sudden shifts in foreign policy priorities could raise questions among investors, wrote Capital Economics senior economist Gareth Leather in an email to Bloomberg on Friday. He added that Duterte’s earlier moves to devolve economic policy to his respected finance team had been encouraging. “The president’s increasingly erratic and crass style is a major concern, and the risks to our medium-run GDP growth forecast of around 6.5 percent lie firmly to the downside,” Leather said. Unlike other countries in Asia such as Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan, the Philippines has had little success integrating its economy with China and exports about 50 percent more to the U.S., according to Leather. That means closer ties with China were unlikely to yield greater economic benefits at the risk of undermining a much more important bilateral relationship, he said.

Philippine appellate court affirms conviction of US Marine

A Philippines appeals court yesterday affirmed a regional trial court’s conviction of a U.S. Marine and his sentence of up to 10 years in jail for killing a transgender Filipino, whose heirs he was also ordered to compensate.

The Court of Appeals decision seen yesterday did not accept Lance Cpl. Joseph Scott Pemberton’s claim of self-defense in killing Jennifer Laude inside a motel room in northwestern Olongapo city after they met in a disco bar in October 2014.

The killing sparked anger in the Philippines and reignited calls by left-
wing groups and nationalists for an end to U.S. military presence in the country.

Pemberton had claimed Laude molested him in the motel room by pretending to be a woman and he had to defend his dignity, but that he had no intention to kill her. He said Laude slapped him when he confronted her for pretending to be a woman.

But the decision penned by Associate Justice Marlene Gonzales-Sison said physical evidence contradicts Pemberton’s claim.

“As proven by the prosecution, Pemberton did not leave Laude merely unconscious, but ensured his death by submerging his head inside the toilet bowl,” it said. “Clearly, Pemberton intended the natural consequence of his wrongful act.”

The court also upheld, with slight modification, the order for Pemberton to pay Laude’s heirs more than USD90,000 for loss of Laude’s income, civil indemnity, moral damages and actual damages.

Rep. Harry Roque, who served as the Laude family’s private lawyer, welcomed the court’s decision, saying that “the fact that a member of the U.S. Marines was found guilty for breach of our criminal laws for the very first time is an affirmation of Philippine sovereignty.”

Pemberton, an anti-tank missile operator from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of thousands of American and Philippine military personnel who participated in joint exercises in the country in 2014. He and a group of other Marines were on leave after the exercises and met Laude and her friends at a bar in Olongapo, a city known for its nightlife outside Subic Bay, a former U.S. Navy base. At least two witnesses testified that Laude was a sex worker.

Pemberton has been detained at a compound guarded by Philippine and American security personnel, at the main military camp in metropolitan Manila. AP