Rody cites gains of Brunei, China trips

MANILA, Philippines - Following his visits to Brunei and China last week, President Duterte assured the people yesterday that the government would pursue economic cooperation and partnership with our neighbors.

In his arrival speech at the Davao International Airport on Friday night, Duterte regarded his four-day state visit to Beijing as a success that will allow the two countries to work for “mutual beneficial cooperation.” 

Duterte seems optimistic when he reported to the people the outcome of his visits to Brunei and China.

“In both my visits, we reviewed the sum total of our relations and explored other areas of undertakings that opened doors for more meaningful engagements,” he said.

In Brunei, the President met Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah with whom he discussed “ways of further deepening bilateral relations, particularly through economic cooperation.”

“We secured Brunei’s commitment to help develop Mindanao halal industry, especially in certification and in capacity-building. Brunei and Mindanao can be twin hubs for the production and export of halal-certified products,” said Duterte, who hails from Mindanao.

“We agreed to intensify trade and investments and work closely to further bolster the role of the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asia Growth Area) in growing our economies,” he said.

The two countries also agreed to “address connectivity issues through increased air and sea linkages to facilitate trade and commerce.”

“I thanked His Majesty for Brunei’s role as a partner for peace and secured his continued support for the Philippines’ efforts to pursue just and lasting peace in Mindanao,” he said.

Turning point

“My state visit to China signaled a turning point in our shared history and showed that both countries are fully capable of working together for mutual beneficial cooperation even as we remain committed to settle disputes peacefully, in full adherence of international law,” he said.

Duterte and his big delegation of businessmen brought home about $24 billion in deals, comprising of $15 billion in investment opportunities and $9 billion in credit facilities.

“In every step that took the Philippines and China relations further forward, I was guided by my bounden duty to protect the sovereignty of our nation and the interests of our people,” he said.

After declaring his “separation” from the United States in terms of military and economic ties while in Beijing, Duterte said he only thinks of what is in the best interest of the country vis-a-vis its independent foreign policy.

“In all my engagements abroad, rest assured that I will always pursue our nation’s best interests, consistent with our independent foreign policy anchored on the basic tenets of sovereignty, non-interference and mutual respect,” he said, renewing his tirades against the US in a press briefing that followed his arrival speech.

Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade bared yesterday that his department received more or less a $10-billion investment package from Duterte’s state visit to China.

Tugade said various projects have been pipelined, including the construction of the Manila-Clark train, the Mindanao express train, as well as the rehabilitation of airports in the country.

The various deals inked during the President’s four-day visit also included the memorandum of understanding for an initial investment of $100 million to develop the Manila EDSA bus transportation program and other places between the Philippine State Group of Companies and Yangtse Motor Group Ltd. and Minmetals International (HK) Ltd.

The department is set to finalize details of the plans as they target to start operations of the train lines in three to four years.

Chinese companies will have a major participation in the development of train lines, which include project design, among others, Tugade said.

Projects under Chinese investments which can be rolled out under the Duterte administration should be finished before the president steps down from office by 2022, he added.

Meaningful talks

Duterte announced the resumption of bilateral talks between Manila and Beijing, a proposal long pushed by Chinese leaders but was rejected by the previous Aquino administration.

“To realize the vision of a deeper and more meaningful engagement, we have opened formal lines of communications between our government and agreed on the full resumption of the regular bilateral consultations mechanisms which were put on hold for several years,” he said.

Setting aside a recent United Nations arbitral tribunal’s ruling awarding historic rights to the Philippines over certain portions of the South China Sea, Duterte veered towards peaceful resolution of the conflict with China.

Accompanied by his Cabinet members as well as property developer and former senator Manuel Villar at the Davao International Airport, Duterte vowed to work further for better foreign relations of the country.

“We will harness our foreign relations for the inclusive growth and sustainable development of our country so that working abroad becomes an option and no longer a need for our people,” he said.

As he crafts an independent foreign policy that would mean distancing from long-time defense ally the United States, Duterte sought for continued support and cooperation from the Filipino people “as we strive to introduce fresh initiatives and more endeavors that will create meaningful changes in ourselves, our families, our communities.”

Clad in a black jacket and blue jeans, Duterte also looked happy after the warm reception of the Filipino communities, which were always first on his agenda during his visits abroad.

“On the personal side, the warm welcome and expressions of support of our kababayans in Brunei and China further strengthened my resolve to pursue the various reforms being carried by our government,” he said.

Duterte also reported about his meeting with President Xi Jinping and three other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party – Premier Li Keqiang, Chairman of the National People’s Congress Zhang Dejiang and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.  

“In all meetings, we had productive and extensive discussions on the full range of Chinese-Philippine relations, from trade and investments, to infrastructure and tourism, and to science and technology and health,” he said.

Robust economic agenda

With the shared objective of achieving greater growth and prosperity for our peoples, Duterte said the Philippines and China jointly worked closely on building a robust economic agenda.  

“Our governments signed 13 agreements. Mostly economic in nature, these agreements provide the framework with which to carry out intensified cooperation between the Philippines and China,” he said.

He remains upbeat, saying that in all his meetings with officials and businesses, there was a renewed and heightened sense of optimism in trade relations. 

“The friendship rekindled opened up deeper commitments to significantly enhance trade and investments,” Duterte said.

“My talks have resulted in public financing agreements and private business deals valued at $24 billion in soft loans we have agreed from other loans,” he added, saying that the agreements covered various fields of economic activities.

These opportunities are expected to generate two million jobs for the Filipinos in the next five years. 

“Your government will continue to work very hard to ensure that these agreements bear concrete results that will better the lives of our people,” Duterte added.

“We shall also make sure that the credit facility and the soft loans will solely be utilized in public financing that benefits all Filipinos,” he said.

Duterte, who has embarked on a hard stand versus drugs marked by summary executions that alarmed human rights advocates, said the Philippines and Brunei also capped the visit with full cooperation to fight illegal drugs. 

The two leaders also vowed to intensify defense and maritime cooperation.

“We will fully cooperate to combat the illegal drug trade and collaborate on maritime and defense issues, particularly in addressing transnational crimes, piracy and crimes at sea,” he said.

To ensure progress in our discussions, Duterte said he and Bolkiah have instructed officials of their respective governments to immediately work together in transforming these agreed agenda into specific plans and actions. 

In the same manner, Duterte said Beijing also committed to help his administration in its goal to stamp out illegal drugs.

“To combat the menace of illegal drug, we will continue across a broad range of areas, including in capacity building, equipment upgrading and support for rehabilitation purposes,” Duterte said.

Camarines Sur Rep. L-Ray Villafuerte, vice chairman of the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee, allayed fears of the public that the administration is going the wrong way, noting that such recalibration of foreign policy will definitely bear fruit.

“Greater trade prospects for the Philippines with other Asian economies should convince the investor community that, stripped of the unnecessary political chatter, our country is now the best place to set up shop in this part of the world,” he declared.  

He said Manila’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals equips it with enough resiliency to hurdle external and internal shocks and keep the economy on its high growth path.”

It is therefore wise for the Duterte government to have decided to “pivot for the greater integration” of the growing 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Villafuerte said Duterte’s visit to Beijing “will shift Malacañang’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda for high – and inclusive – growth to overdrive soon enough.”

He described China, Japan and South Korea as “Asia’s economic powerhouses.” – Christina Mendez, Delon Porcalla, Romina Cabrera