Ramble on: Just talking about stuff.

Response to friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

FLOOD of commercial advertisements on Facebook? I guess, that's bound to happen. Pragmatically speaking. I still read old magazines, including glossy magazines with about 80 percent ads. I get lucky when I get 2 or 3 interesting articles. That's the way it is. But I read old-school as a habit. I read only 4 or 5 media outlets in the internet though. Other news sources come with annoying ads or links between paragraphs so no more of that for me. 

       On FB, I am fine with 5 or 7 friends on my Homepage. Ads or reels versus posts that only irritate me? It's no brainer. Besides, I enjoy these cat/dog videos, feeds about basketball, memory of old movies, cooking tips, and silliness from my nephews. The internet per se is a giant mall so let it be. Hence, after I am done (or in between) my structured posts, I then deal with my 16 TV series (that I follow at a time), LOL! With my dog and 2 cats beside me. Life is good regardless. 💻⌨️💻

ALTHOUGH I don't work (job) anymore as I did, this internet/social media thing can really hold us captive. So I try my best to post/write as I did before we were brought online. I draft 95 percent of my posts and follow a strict time allotment/regimen. So I can't afford to get ruffled or distracted by silly arguments. Too much mental energy lost and time wasted. I was then. I mean, 20+ minutes on a singular argument about a subject that will never be resolved, esp. with someone that we haven't even met in person. Although I have blocked a few longtime friends who act like 7 year olds here. More annoying than 15 ads in one slide of my thumb, LOL! 💻⌨️💻

Politics. Society. History.

Posted on my Facebook page, years ago.

Politics and Society. 

IF we view societal/governmental issues with futility than hope then we are all fucked. What is the point of elections if we anticipate that these supposed leaders are going to abuse their powers anyway? We are just wasting time, effort and money. So what is the alternative? Maybe do a Fidel Castro/Muammar Qadaffi remedy? Cuba and Libya have better delivery of basic services but we (in a socalled democratic/free world) will always have something dark to say about those. 

       Maybe let's just hope for the better and elect a president and other legislators that we think ar "less evil"? Well, I'd like to exude optimism amidst the apparent disillusionment. The world overcame the Great Depression (1929 to 1932). Back home in the Philippines, we did improve a lot after two decades of the Marcos regime. The only "solution" to our collective frustration is a full-blown bloody revolution. But do we want that? What we must do and convince voters about, especially those who are not reached by social media (and other media) is to vote smartly. 

       Let us educate and advocate with hope of good change than annihilate and propagate based on doom. It's just that these days, there are more personality-obliterations than actual discussion of political platforms, hence the negative is accentuated more than projection of what these aspiring leaders could do to better our lives. Meantime, being positive works—and it also makes us less angry and grumpy. 🏛⚖️🏛

Politics and History.

FRANKLIN D. Roosevelt is a sort of model for governance coming from the rubble. His New Deal worked but we are talking about more than a decade of leadership (1933-1945), that ended at the tailend of the Pacific War. It was a different era amidst differing socioeconomic and political variables. China was deep sleeping that time.

       Coming from the economic downturn of the 2000s, plus the fact that Americans are also divided by political correctness, food behavior, gender politics and environmental hug-trees brevity, then there's the resurgence of new immigrant population with different cultural truths--we need a leader who could somehow keep America tight despite this disconnect and diversity. Just a good and effective president. FDR was able to do that via New Deal. Or who was the president who enjoined confederates and union soldiers and African Americans and Irish immigrants and Chinese and Mormons to work on railroads (1863 and 1869)? Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson? Tactical alliance. 

       Of course, there will always be fights in diversity but once this divergence of thoughts and beliefs work for a common good, then there is hope. 🏛⚖️🏛

Ramble On: Religion and Stuff.

Just talking about stuff. Response friends’ post on Facebook. 

WE need to look deeper and around or beyond people's biased/linear look at religion. Religion is an expression of a people's culture but there's also political leadership, regional relations per trade, natural resources, labor force etc. 

       Africa is poor despite its natural wealth but it is also shaken by tribal/ethnic animosities. Yet we need to look at how Britain and other European powers “owned” majority of the continent. Foreign control of these countries drove them into internal strife hence hostilities ensued. Although loss of power over their own country was the major cause of displeasure, religions (that interfaced with indigenous faiths) were conveniently used as a “divide and rule” tool.

       When Europe pulled out of Asia, the continent thrived economically but it took centuries after the West handed them control of their affairs. True, Middle East is least peaceful but not because of their adherence to Islam. Tempest heightened after Western discovery of oil out there and the ensuing "arms for oil" bilateral agreements with the West. Yet when the desert got richer, warring neighbors started shaking hands. 

       Asia Pacific is peaceful (second to Europe) and it is VERY religious. China is Communist but that political system is driven by Han Buddhism as a sociocultural truth. Europe can be peaceful but how'd a NATO continent be peaceful? "Peaceful" within while hand poorer countries weaponry to protect economic interests? Let these religious people kill themselves so they'd achieve peace for themselves. Anyways. ✝️🕎☪️

Politics and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook page, years ago.

SOMETIMES I think are we asking too much from our (prospective) leaders? We criticize them so badly when not all of what they promised during campaign aren't met. What about 6 out of ten, or 7 out of ten? Leaders can work things out better or realistically that way, I reckon. When dad or mom says, “I will buy you a new Buick, that doesn't necessarily mean you get the Buick tomorrow—and it's all paid up,” right? There is an exchange here as well. 

       What about us, the people? Do we deliver what we should while our elected leaders find ways to deliver 100 percent of what we asked for? 

      You see, we humans have also up the hedonism/consumerist scale a bit. It was "better" when America rose from the Great Depression or Dust Bowl. People were fine with just enough stuff to live on and then go from there. That was the time when America slowly loomed as a world power. But then these days, it's tough. People aren't earning enough to pay bills yet we got lots of incendiary bills to pay which were never present before. 

       Whoever wins the presidency, I hope he/she'd be able to work things out with corporate gods and foreign policy for the betterment of American lives. It doesn't have to be polar extremes where people choose between left and right. When we buy milk and potatoes or pay health insurance, it doesn't say partyline politics. It's all about the people. But as a people, we should also do our share of building a better community and a country. It's not all about a President. 🏛⚖️🏛

Ramble on: Just talking about stuff. "Facebook Talk." "Away from Home."

Response friends’ post on Facebook, slightly edited. 

Facebook Talk.

MY pragmatic take. Many "friends" on Facebook are just there, lifeless. Some respond just to tell you they disagree (or agree to disagree) with smartass language that'd ruin your next 3 hours. So I try my best to avoid falling into that waste of time/energy trap. 

       Meanwhile, ads are ads. Lifeless billboards. I still read those glossy magazines which are basically ads. One or two good articles emerge. On FB, I basically interact with maybe 10 people or less. Online or offline, I can only handle 3 (the most) to a meaningful, focused, grownup and sustained conversation, anyway. Most in here butt in with that annoying laughing emoji, throw links or memes probably made by high school nerds, toss juvenile one liners to, as I said, mangle your next 3 hours. 

       I post or write old- school. Then, before the internet, it was simpler. Write, submit, print. Do it again tomorrow. Subscribers to the newspaper or magazine number in thousands (beyond FB's max of 5k). Do they read me? Maybe. I didn’t really care. That was the marketing/circulation department’s worry.

       There were also pass-on readership and random buyers of the paper who may have read me. But I don't think about those a lot. I just wrote, breathed, and got paid. The past.

       These days, I still maintain a personal deadline or methodical, structured system of writing. I try not to get distracted by ads or rabble rousers. I start posting on a routine-like framework. Not impulsive. When I am done, I am done. FB is just FB. I got a dog and two cats and an old life to deal with beyond my political rants, grumpy thoughts, and sappy poetry. Still, Facebook is fun to me, therapeutic. Better than pills. 🗣📲💻

Away from Home.

I STILL read stuff that tend to, maybe unknowingly, offend foreigners like me. “Aliens” are normal people, not weird. They are in "abnormal" situations being away from home and family and estranged from their cultural identities. So when they try to live some traditional ways which are not illegal anyways, it's okay. If those don't "harm" the next person, apart from some occasional irritation, it's okay. 

       Unity in diversity isn't a cool vibe that one gets because they listen to Mexican music, eat Ethiopian food, or watch k-drama. Coexisting with ways and realities by people who seem different is the true meaning of cultural interface. It is not what we say and write, but how we project these in practice. 👲🧕👳‍♀️

HOW IT WAS.

Compiled from my previous Facebook posts. 

I used to work as data analyst. With so much raw info and stat numbers on my files, I wondered, what if a machine was invented for this purpose. I’d lose a job but then "data analysis" would be faster. And so now we have AI, which is supposed to expand "human" abilities. Problem is AI injects its subjective take on “big data” so analysis now seems biased, self-righteous, “political.” I want it the way it was. Flawed and imperfect but human. Meanwhile, data then invited discourse and healthy deliberations. These days, data handed by AI, seems/s to say, this is it, don’t think, just take it. 📜📋📃

New York City Subway. What fascinates me the most in my decades of life in America–is NYC’s subway. Here, I mix with and engage the world’s diversity in random, curious energy. All ethnicities, social standing, shapes, makes, and whatevers. The E Train and 7th Train are my frequent, favorite rides. I even slept in there or spent hours, just observing humanity, taking down notes. 🗽🚉🗽

Those days. San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury of the 1960s. Manila’s Luneta Park of the 1980s. Diverse crowd on a peaceful vibe. Discussions of issues, instinctively moderated in civility. I formed the Traveling Bonfires in/around the same sublimity. We were rockin’. Then times changed. These days, I get paranoid. Random gun violence. A park bench “conversation” is mostly anchored on Left/Right caterwaul. Too much hate. 👥☮️🫂

When I was a boy, I used to hang a lot in barber shops. I played chess while I listened to old folk/s banter, heckle, joke, and share stuff about anything at all: Price of kilo of rice and gasoline, new movies, Hollywood, grandkids, dinner tonight, cycling (“Tour of Luzon”) and basketball, political corruption, America and England, anything. Cool conversations. No insults. Primal “rules” of civility were observed. “Common sense” community vibe. 👥🏘🫂

Bonfires. Village tradition. After a day in the farm or a week in the sea, rural folk would gather before the fire, rotate homecrafted liquor and fish/meat ceviche. Talk about stuff: Day's harvest and catch, politics and sports, lotsa jokes. Music via guitar and harmonica, in between. No unfriending. As we “willingly” isolate ourselves via e-gadgets and distance us per political self-righteousness, the light and warmth of bonfires have become more imperative. 👥🔥🫂

When I was growing up, there was always an outdoor kitchen besides the indoor kitchen. Cooking and dining. I miss those days. Outside, it was a clay oven or firewood stove. The wok crackled with onions, garlic and tomatoes were sauteed or fish was fried in coconut oil. The breeze would touch your skin and the chirping of birds fluttered in the air. Transistor radio played rock `n roll sweetness. The scent and aroma of dinner royale embraced my soul. 🍲🔥🥘

Powered by gasoline or electricity, public transportation should be a government priority. 80-90 percent of cars' environmental impact comes from fuel consumption and emissions of air pollution and greenhouse gas. In 1990, there were 500 million cars, globally. These days: 1.474 billion. Sans impact on Earth’s life, claustrophobic isolation was my issue while in a car. In buses and jeepneys, I see people, I breathe with people. I exist/ed. 🚕🚌🚕

Visual credits: Call Centre Helper. Blake Farms.

MORE on Israel Gaza crisis.

Response/s to friends posts on Facebook. 

THE fact is Israel is the top recipient of U.S. military aid since the end of World War II or around the birth of Israel as a nation, 1948. Occupation of the 3 territories–West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip (4 before, with Golan Heights)--also started in those years, the longest military occupation in history. 

       I don't think the U.S. is sincere in protecting civilians in Gaza. Few days after the Oct 7 Hamas attack, Congress approved an additional $14.5 billion military aid to Israel, on top of the annual $2.67 billion arms package. And yesterday (13 Nov, as I typed this up) the U.S., on orders from President Biden, bombed Iranian-controlled weapons facilities in Syria, for the 3rd time in a month's time. 

       Of course, Iran and Syria are known supporters of Hamas. Points of fear: Syria has been accepted back to the Arab League a few months ago around the time Saudi Arabia and Iran shook hands. Saudi Arabia is the de facto leader of the Arab League. 

       An important backstory: In January next year, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and UAE are set to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa), whose primary concern is mutual economic goodness, over military high-handedness. (I maintain my previous insight that Russia was goaded to invade Ukraine and if Kyiv sits with Moscow, as Washington pulls back military support to Volodymyr Zelensky, that war will end.) 

Meanwhile, while Iran is not a member of the Arab League, China is the top buyer of Tehran’s oil, and recently Riyadh and Beijing struck billion$ trade deals. Which brings us to China’s influence in the region, especially with the major players. 

       As we speak, U.S. officials are set to meet with Chinese counterparts in Frisco to agree on economic matters. That'd lead to President Biden's possible meeting with Xi Jinping. Take note, Biden failed to coax China to invade Taiwan. What if Joe failed again to convince China on whatever the U.S. wants on the trade table? 🇮🇱☮️🇵🇸

IF Israel and the Arabs sit and discuss territorial issues, they'd be able to resolve this. I stay positive. The two-state solution doesn't make sense and so I don’t think Hamas will leave Gaza, even if the entire place is pulverized by Israeli bombs and surviving civilians in there have already fled to Lebanon, Egypt, or Jordan. Tragically, displacing Palestinians out of Gaza will only heighten Hamas’ rationale to launch pocket attacks on innocent Israelis.

       Palestine (including the occupied territories) is tiny, maybe the size of Delaware. Israel's size is about 4x (estimate). I mean, why not give them up and then co-exist in trade and soccer? Simplification of a grimly complex issue? Israeli occupation of the 3 or 4 disputed territories is the longest military occupation in history. This fact: Israel has always been the top receiver of U.S. military aid. Ergo, what if Tel Aviv doesn't get that much arms aid? 

       Meanwhile, what does Israel get from the occupation? Because Israel is mainly Jewish and Palestinians are majority Sunni Muslim? The Philippines (+ tiny East Timor) is essentially the only Christian nation in Asia. But we co-exist with the rest despite intermittent “neighbor quarrels,” which didn’t escalate to country to country war, at least in modern times. 

       Also, Iran is mainly Shia but popular belief is Iran supports Hamas (Sunni). Of course, the Arab League is Sunni. Yet de facto leader Saudi Arabia shook hands with Iran recently. And before the Oct 7 attack, Saudi Arabia and Israel were on the table talking. 

       What power really pushed Hamas to kill 1,400 (and take hostage more) on Oct 7? Iran just had huge oil deals with China and on the brink of going back to the shuddered nuke deal with the U.S. Heightened conflagration will only derail those trade deals (and lifting of West economic embargo) which Iran needed to get back on its economic feet.  

       Then there's Syria accepted back to the Arab League. The Saudis are high with pro sports, Hollywood stuff and dancing these days. Riyadh doesn't need this war. Or maybe because the BRICS bloc is set to sign up Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Iran? Etc etcetera. Powers who pushed for this war want this derailment. And, as ever civilians (both Palestinians and Israelis) are wasted on crossfire .🇮🇱☮️🇵🇸

THE sad issue with dissent these days is--many say those who protest the revenge bombing of Gaza or gungho strikes of innocent Palestinians and call for a ceasefire are also pro-Hamas. Similar with those who consign critics of Joe Biden as pro-Donald Trump. Etcetera. There is no way to condone any act of terrorism. Yet there are also state-sponsored acts of terror. In both assaults, civilians are hit in the crossfire. 🇮🇱☮️🇵🇸

Geopolitics and Stuff.

Facebook Homepage Response.

Reply to my post: “We have more at stake to lose in Ukraine that to Africa. If Ukraine falls into the hands of Putin, he will attack Poland and invade all of Eastern Europe until Europe is so weak and ripe for the picking. Remember, we helped the Brits and French topple the Nazis otherwise Hitler would have taken over.” 

First, the parallel/linear take per 1930s/40s Hitler and current events don't apply anymore. Lots of geopolitical alignments and economic crossovers have already taken place, at least, since 2001–as globalized trade anchors on computer technology takes over the stereotypical ally/non-ally or Left/Right paradigms are now blurred. So we have to reread the signs and realities. 

       Should we start with the discovery of oil in the desert to J. Paul Getty’s ventures in Saudi Arabia in late 1940s to the start of “arms for oil” bilateral deals in the Middle East to the Bretton Woods summit in 1944 to Suez Canal crisis of the 1950s onto China’s entry to WTO in 2001 and Russia in 2012. Etc etcetera. Then we can look at G7 and the resurgent BRICS. 

       Secondly, you are in a way saying or accentuating that America/West is protecting their vast economic interests in Ukraine, which of course, is greased up by political narratives that take us away from trade facts? Ukraine is super wealthy with natural resources but post-1991, corruption has stunted its growth. Unemployment is double digits so some 4 million Ukrainians worked in Russia before the war. But indeed via focus on Eastern Europe, the West hits a double target. The anti Russia fervor heats up (good for election pitch). 

       Meanwhile, again post Cold War, Russia emerged as an economic power, thereby owning the European energy market over OPEC and the U.S. Russia's oil/gas market is Europe per se so even if Ukraine et al buys US/OPEC oil/natural gas, Russia already had a potent market. And with Nord Stream 2 up and running, that'd also serve China's Belt and Road Initiative RI expansionism. 

       Ergo: These wars are not about who is evil and who is saint. These wars are about who controls the economic roost. But sans the goading of Russia to invade Ukraine in Feb 2022, which didn't work with Taiwan, BRICS is all about trade. G7 is all about war/NATO.

       Meantime, why Africa? Hint: Some 6 million people perish in Africa from a dozen or so deadly diseases, before Covid hit in 2019/2020. Poverty rate is around 70 percent. But sure, why would America bother with Africa? Complex. Why would America give more aid to Ukraine over South Sudan, which is also at war? ☮️☯️☮️

Book Bans and Stuff.

Associated Press: “Book bans continue to hit record highs for schools and public libraries.” Book bans and attempted bans continue to hit record highs, according to the American Library Association, and the efforts are now extending as much to public libraries as school-based libraries. 

Through the first eight months of 2023, the ALA tracked 695 challenges to library materials and services, compared to 681 during the same period last year. School libraries had long been the predominant target, but in 2023 reports have been near-equally divided between schools and public libraries.

       In 2019, the association recorded just 377 challenges, involving 566 titles. The numbers fell in 2020, when many libraries were closed, but have since risen to record highs in the association’s 20-plus year history of compiling data. The most sweeping challenges often originate with such conservative organizations as Moms for Liberty, which has organized banning efforts nationwide.

       As in other “culture war” issues, book bans are a top social media noise. But it’s all noise. Ban books in school? Then buy them via Amazon or eBay, or Goodwill got some, too. What school systems or classroom curriculum don’t seem to give your kids? Then as a parent, take it from there. Teach! 

       Yet grade school and high school are learning (institution) stages of life. When youths get older, they hop into another level of education. We seem to forget that they got minds, too. They will course their journey as a life’s continuum. And when they carry on, our politics may not even matter at all. 📚🖐📚

Wages, Salaries, and Stuff.

Facebook Homepage Response.

AVERAGE annual income in China is $49,000 with Gini coefficient or income inequality at 0.46. Pay in the United States is from $50k to $67k to as high as $90,000 in some states. Gini coefficient or inequality measure is at 0.49. Shows that there's not much difference. 

       But China's population is 4x that of the U.S. And how people consume or spend is way different. America is the runaway #1 market consumer in the world. Mostly, we should blame how a government or leadership fixes the societal discrepancy. Yet we instead level trajectory at the rich per se and/or political partisanship. 

       News trumpets that China's current economy is faltering based on GDP growth etc. Fact is, after the CCP observed its 100 years in 2021 and upon reflection of the surge of billionaires out there, Xi Jinping reminded his people of the nation's "Common Prosperity" ideal. Right after, China's billionaires or private corporations donated billions$ to the country's projects, with focus on countryside development and Belt and Road Initiative investments overseas. 

       China has eased its manufacturing mojo to give away to BRICS partner India. Instead, China's leadership hands money to its people to up trade stakes abroad a.k.a. FDIs. Which worries the U.S. China's trade expansionism which benefits its own 1.4 billion people, who live per their socialist per Han Buddhist style of happier life, which we in America brand as "poor." 🇨🇳🤌🇺🇸

Artwork: iStock.

Morris Dancing and Clogging in North Carolina.

NEWS: “In England, Morris Dancing Is Loved, Mocked and Getting a Makeover.” And adds: “Morris dancing, a folk form with origins in the 15th century, is opening up to younger dancers who approach it as a living tradition.” It’d seem anything that is “traditional,” rooted in cultures past, and deemed conservative are demonized these days. Culture war has slipped from academic self-righteousness to political arrogance, or worse. Of course, we know why the mockery: Only because the tradition belongs to the past. 

       Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance, based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two people, steps are near and across a pair of clay tobacco pipes laid one across the other on the floor. They clap their sticks, swords, or handkerchiefs together to match with the dance.

       The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths' Company in London. Further mentions of Morris dancing occur in the late 16th century, and there are also early records such as bishops' "Visitation Articles" mentioning sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities. 💃👯‍♂️🕺

IN the United States, a similar cultural tradition is “clogging,” a type of folk dance in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the heel keeping the rhythm.

      American Clogging is associated with the predecessor to bluegrass—"old-time" music, which is based on English, and Irish fiddle tunes as well as African American banjo tunes. Clogging primarily developed from Irish step dancing called Sean-nós dance; there were also English, Scottish, German, and Cherokee step dances, as well as African rhythms and movement influences too. It was from clogging that tap dance eventually evolved. Now, many clogging teams compete against other teams for prizes such as money and trophies. 

     Clogging is the official state dance of Kentucky and North Carolina. In the United States, team clogging originated from square dance teams in Asheville, North Carolina's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival (1928). We watched this summer’s event at the Lipinsky Stadium in UNC. 

      I must say they weren’t the best cloggers and bluegrass performers that I’ve seen in years but it wasn’t all about the “show” per se but the sublimity that some people let the culture live. 

      The best in the mountain perform in the yearly “Shindig on the Green” though I haven’t seen one in years. But last time I was there, it was fiesta vibe. And no alcoholic drinks! Ain’t that different? 💃👯‍♂️🕺

(With some info copy-pasted from Wikipedia.)

Superpowers and smaller nations or the Philippines.

Facebook Homepage Response.

SUPERPOWERS gobbling up smaller nations is a global reflex or universal deduction. The West devoured the world for centuries before the 21st. When China's trade dragon was essentially asleep, and Beijing's state owned industries were basically dealing business selectively, we Filipinos were protesting America. All Philippine presidents were controlled by Washington, we cried. “Sabwatang U.S. Marcos!”

       Meanwhile, when Cold War was focused between the United States and Russia, China was quietly buying acres and acres of lands in 4 corners of the earth. That was Deng Xiaoping's plan–per "Four Modernizations" to open door policy–after Mao Zedong died in 1976 and went full-blast after Tiananmen revolt in 1989. So when China entered World Trade Organization in 2001, after a trade pact with the US in 2000 (signed by Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin), Beijing was set and ready for trade expansionism. 

       Meanwhile, Russia entered WTO in 2012 as friendship with China was apparently revived through the years. In 1992, the two countries declared that they were pursuing a "constructive partnership.” In 1996, they progressed toward a "strategic partnership.” And in 2001, they signed a treaty of "friendship and cooperation.” Anyhow, Beijing state-owned banks advised Moscow’s Central Bank  to diversify per oil/natural gas anchor and ease up the apparatchik mojo. Do West-styled capitalism. Etc etcetera. 

       And so as President Biden works per beck and call of America’s 1 Percent which lost clout and juice vs the East, Russia, and Gulf's oil sheikhs--to regain power pedestal-- here we go, Filipinos, throwing darts at China. Consider this fact: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr got quid pro quo, decades overdue, to deliver to Uncle Sam. But remember, China got together 14 economies in the region via the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as the Democratic Party was rejoicing Joe's win in Nov 2020. 

       My point. It is not about China or the United States. It all boils down to how the Philippines negotiates on the trade table. Singapore is friends to both but it is rich with no natural resource but its people. Vietnam is a recent example of a country or leadership that plays the West/East card so well. Cambodia is also surging. 

       But here we are. Blaming China as we blamed the U.S. before, during Marcos dictatorship. We blamed China as well during Rodrigo Duterte’s time. Yet we are within top 5 producer/exporter of sugar cane, banana, mangoes, coconut, rice as well as "climate change" industry minerals such as cobalt -- plus a strong labor manufacturing force -- but we never really used our leverage to the max. 

       Meantime, our strategic position in South China Sea is like Oman or Iran in Strait of Hormuz but again we up the China bully narrative out there than play the political or economics tactics better. 🇨🇳🇵🇭🇺🇸