"New faces, new phrases, but same order"
(Thoughts on the victory of Joe Biden as President of the United States
and its implications in the Philippines)
The victory of the Biden-Harris duo in the United States doesn't equate to freedom from imperialism the way it doesn't end neoliberalism and other systemic conditions that brought Donald Trump to fame. But instead, it gave a new appearance enough to appease the people.
How come this note said so? During the Trump administration, that despite Duterte's feigning anti-Americanism, it didn't stop the United States from supporting the agenda brought by Duterte what more of the mutual admiration between these two rulers as shown by Trump's visit in Manila. But, as Biden won the presidency, it is expecting for Duterte and his camarilla to change the tune despite its initial support for Trump during that recent election- and for sure he and his ilk will "try their best" to appease the Democrat-led administration knowing the latter's perchance for human rights Duterte himself detests.
But in speaking of human rights, Biden himself, like Obama and other presidents who sworn to upheld the ruling international order, eyes a tougher regional presence as opposed to Trump's transactional, "America first" foreign policy. However, it was the same Trump who gradually embrace globalism. Biden, also served as committee chair in 2002, backed GOP's George W. Bush's war against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on the basis of "weapons of mass destruction".
But does these change the situation? Nope. As said before, the military industrial complex, sensationalised media, banks, the stock market, and others who defend that goddamn order benefited from it. Neoliberalism remains the prevailing view even in this populist interlude. It is unsurprising, especially that underneath the veneer of calls for unity and democracy is the order where capital is king at the expense of labour.
And as for the Philippines, the United States still look to the islands as its military outpost in Southeast Asia as in the past, if not a strategic foothold to counter China. Duterte may speak two and fro about junking the VFA, EDCA, and other military agreements with the United States- but these are rather dismissed as bluffs no matter his supporters expressed it as a show of patriotism, what more that those in the government beg not to pursue out of maintaining their Yankee-centric interests.
As said earlier, it is the duty of the people to seek truth from facts, and to expose what is unjust.