A year since President Rodrigo Duterte reported Manila’s increased efforts to bolster ties with both traditional and nontraditional partners, added cooperation agreements have since been secured.
The government’s commitment to protecting its nationals abroad was also reaffirmed under his administration, not only through the labor agreements signed but with the successful opening of three Philippine foreign posts halfway through his term — the Philippine Embassy in Copenhagen (Denmark) and the Philippine Consulates General in Frankfurt (Germany) and Houston (United States).
From September 2018 to June this year, President Rodrigo Duterte visited eight states, reporting back “fruitful trips” where ways to further relations were discussed.
During his trip to Israel last September, Duterte signed the memorandums of agreement on the temporary employment of home-based Filipino caregivers, on scientific cooperation, and a memorandum of intent on the promotion of bilateral direct investment between the two states.
Two agreements were also signed during his trip to Jordan on September 6 such as increasing the two nations’ engagement to regulate labor deployment.
Just a few months ago, Duterte inked several agreements with Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visited Beijing for the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in April.
Among these agreements were focused on the Production Capacity and Investment Cooperation between the Philippines and China and the Handover Certificate Grant-Aid for the Dangerous Drugs
Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers Project in the country.
His April visit to China also resulted in 19 business agreements with an estimated investment value of USD12.165 billion.
On May 28, the President also witnessed the signing of 26 business agreements with Japan during his working visit to Tokyo. The estimated investment value of these agreements is around PHP288 billion, projected to create more than 82,000 jobs in the country.
Assisting overseas Filipinos
In 2018 alone, a total of 101,918 Filipinos abroad received assistance through the Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund and at least 14,542 through the Legal Assistance (LAF) Fund of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Under the Duterte administration, the ATN Fund of the DFA was increased to PHP1 billion and the LAF to PHP200 million, allowing more repatriation of thousand overseas Filipinos in distress abroad and those in the risk of imprisonment due to illegal working status in their respective host countries.
This year, more than 56,000 have been assisted under the ATN fund as of 31 May 2019 and 2,393 under the LAF.
One of the beneficiaries was Jennifer Dalquez, an overseas Filipino worker who was imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates in 2014 after stabbing her employer who had threatened to kill her if she refused to have sexual intercourse with her.
Dalquez finally returned to the Philippines in November 2018. The DFA-Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (OMWA) provided Dalquez with a lawyer since her case was heard by the Court of First Instance in March 2015.
The Philippine Embassy representatives were also present during her court hearings and visited her several times at the Al Ain Central Jail.
Return of the Canadian trash
Halfway through the chief executive’s term, the international community has also witnessed significant events on how Manila engaged its partners.
Most recently, the Canadian garbage was immediately transported back to its origin following calls from the Duterte administration.
“It began when the President said that he would declare war against Canada. I summoned the Canadian Ambassador who said that they do want to take out the garbage but the question is how do we share the cost,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. shared during a pre-State of the Nation forum in Davao.
When the issue of shouldering the costs was initially resolved, the delay due to discussions became the next issue between the two sides.
“There was still some talk here and there and some delays so I recalled — very quietly — by quiet diplomacy, I recalled our ambassador and all consuls from Canada and then it started to proceed very fast,” he said.
“At the minute, to make sure there was no hitch I also sent private messages through our very forceful Transport Secretary Art Tugade that I would not tolerate any delay in the passage of the boat to transit points along the Chinese coast and so on to Canada. Next thing you know it’s already in Canada,” he added.
Aside from the highly publicized journey of the Canadian trash to its origin, the historic return of the Balangiga Bells was also secured last year.
West Philippine Sea claims stands
Meanwhile, the government under the Duterte administration continued to reaffirm Manila’s claim in the West Philippine Sea.
In April, Locsin reiterated that the Philippine position on the contested waters remains the same: “It is ours.”
Vietnam and the Philippines, along with some member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), have competing claims in the strategic waters with Beijing, which asserts a large portion of the waters with its invisible demarcation called the nine-dash line.
The long-standing territorial spat has not yet been settled but Hanoi, Manila, and other claimants have committed to work alongside China toward the conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the area.
Bilaterally, the Philippines and China continue discussing ways to resolve its issue on the area through the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM).
During their fourth meeting under the BCM on April 2, both sides raised specific issues and recent developments and actions in the area and proposed ways to address them in a cooperative manner.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate and to continue to find ways forward to strengthen mutual trust and confidence.
They also reiterated “that while the contentious issues in the South China Sea should not be ignored, they are not the sum total of the Philippines-China relations and should not exclude mutually beneficial cooperation in other fields. (PNA)
