Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. was neither on the side of former president Donald Trump nor Vice-president Kamala Harris during the heated race to the White House.
Marcos apparently chose to play it safe in the bitter US presidential contest that was earlier projected to go down-the-wire (even if it may end up otherwise).
Avoiding the possibility of a backlash out of a wrong choice, the Philippine leader until 2028 was never be caught by inquisitive media with any partisan statement in the run-up to the November 5 American polls.
Obviously, Marcos did not see any significant advantage even if he makes the right pick.
He must be convinced that the United States, under Trump or Harris, would need to keep its ties with the Philippines to deal with the belligerent actions of China in the Indo-Pacific region. The sea between China and the Philippines is the artery of over one-fifth of global trade.
The US has only one treaty ally in the South China Sea and it is the Philippines. The Philippine-US mutual defense agreement may be invoked in case of attack against both countries.
Up until this point, recent hostilities over the disputed seas resulted in diplomatic word war. But the alliance between Manila and Washington has so far deterred Beijing from initiating actions more hostile than firing water cannons and ramming Filipino vessels.
Regarding the interests of many Filipinos in the United States, President Marcos did not find it compelling to make a choice between Trump (whose priority is to deport all illegals) or Harris (whose inclination is to establish legal pathways for immigrants).
Recall that in 2017, under the Trump administration, the Philippine government needed to prepare the logistics for roughly 10,000 Filipinos in the US who faced deportation then. It is well known that for half a century, many Filipinos see America as a way out of poverty at home and as of 2022, up to 4 million Philippine-born citizens already managed to find a home in the US through various avenues.
While President Marcos successfully zipped his mouth until the end of the US presidential race, his sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, was not able to control her anxiety.
Without endorsing any candidate, Sen. Marcos warned of the possible deportation of thousands of undocumented Filipinos on US soil.
“The Philippines should prepare for the impact of the US elections,” said the elder sister of the President in a statement released by the Philippine Senate on November 1. She also raised the prospects of decreased US direct investments and reduced Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) jobs in the country.
Sen. Marcos is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The President’s elder sister noted that any US president “will naturally prioritize American interests” as she underscored the importance of vigilance in safeguarding the Philippines’ own interests. She called for conscious efforts by Filipino leaders to bring American companies back onshore.
Earlier this year, American multinational consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble announced plans to invest US$100 million to expand its factory production in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Microsoft revealed plans for investments in artificial intelligence and cloud facilities worth US$1.7 billion in Indonesia, and Google committed US$ 1 billion to Thailand for building a data center and accelerating AI growth.
The Philippines, however, missed out on these major foreign investments, raising concerns over the country’s competitiveness in attracting multinational corporations.
On the topic of defense, Sen. Marcos maintained that it remains unclear whether the next US president will continue the aggressive expansion of US military presence in the Philippines. Given this uncertainty, she said, the Philippine government should fully implement the Self-Reliant Defense Posture Revitalization Act as soon as possible for the country to be capable of fending for itself.
