Socio-Economic harm of “anti-China-ism”
By Herman Tiu Laurel
May 7, 2025
Last March 5, 2025 the Philippine Star had this headline, “No funding, no timeline: Bicol, Mindanao rails hang in the balance.” That’s $ 4.5-billion or P 257-billion of development projects that China had committed to fund since the time of President Rodrigo R. Duterte at least six-years ago that the BBM government irrevocably rejected October 2023 by then DOTr secretary Jaime Bautista who gave no clear reason for it.
I stress this fact lack of clear reasoning behind the rejection of the Chinese funding reported by GMA 7 and other news outlets in their October 26, 2023 reports because it smacked of suspicious motives. I wrote in several articles then that it was due to U.S. pressure on the then already co-opted BBM government which and pivoted back to a vassal status by February 2023 signaled by its compliance with the U.S. “assertive transparency” strategy.
The usual gaggle of pro-U.S. Filipino proxy columnists welcomed the cancellation, such as Boo Chanco who wrote that the cancellation was a “Blessing in disguise.” If it was a blessing in disguise then why is it that two years later in 2025 the DOTr’s Dizon is still hankering for the projects with DOTR Secretary Vince Dizon saying: “Yes, these projects remain in the priority list of the President and in the priority list of the DOTr. However, it is difficult to say if we don’t have the funding yet. We cannot program a timeline for them…”
Boo Chanco of Philstar should listen to the multitude of complaints of travelers to Bicol raging about the dismal travel conditions to Bicol, and the lament of the Mindanao people that are still waiting for the Phase I of the Mindanao Circumferential Rail Project linking Tagum to Davao City and Digos. After rejecting China’s funding the BBM government is grasping at straws to find financing, some suggesting Public Private Partnership (PPP, good luck to them) while Japan in July 2024 says “Mindanao rail plan not ready for funding decision…”
It is unlikely that private capital will be interested in funding such long-term projects such as the Mindanao Railway system, nor Japan which is suffering from economic decline and going in and out of recessionary crises these years. The U.S. is out of the question, as it seeks instead to push down Filipino throats loans for F-16s and Typhon missiles. The U.S. wouldn’t even give the Philippines a free trade agreement and the 17% tariff favor is of no use at all.
The most telling damage from the anti-China pivot of BBM is in the tourism sector, and I have grown hoarse reporting this over our media broadcasts. The Philippines has been losing billions of Dollars in tourism revenues due to the massive decline in Chinese tourist arrival since 2019 when it hit 1.9-million and brought in $ 1.9-billion tourism revenues. In 2024 the Dept. of Tourism reported only 330,000 tourist arrival from China with the concomitant loss of revenues.
The export sector is not without its victims and foremost among them is the Philippine bananas which in 2019 was the top banana import China but has fallen behind Vietnam in 2024. While China continues to make efforts to keep its market opening wider for the Philippines as evidenced by the December 2024 CIIE (China International Import Expo) contract of Durian and other fruit and processed products from the Philippines of $ 1.5-million.
While economic exchange between the Philippines has been declining due to misguided foreign relations policy of the BBM government as well as pernicious activities of US-proxies abiding by American instructions to decouple the Philippines from China and ASEAN, the nine other ASEAN countries reaping huge bonanzas from China’s growth and expanding middle class disposable income.
In tourism along in 2024 Cambodia saw a 55% increase in Chinese tourist arrivals numbering to 1-million Chinese tourists, while Thailand saw 6.77-million Chinese tourists representing a 91.7% increase from the post Covid-19 2023. With regards to China investments in the first half of 2024, ASEAN received $ 12.96-billion for a 15.3% year-on-year growth. The Philippines is missing out on the boom times from China’s continuing economic rise.
Why is BBM and the US-proxy chihuahuas so cruel on the Filipino people! ###
Herman “Ka Mentong” Tiu Laurel
Herman “Ka Mentong” Tiu Laurel is a broadcast journalist and the President of Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute.
He is hosting the live stream program Opinyon Online every Wednesday 6PM-8PM and Unfinished Revolution every Sunday 8AM to 10AM on his personal Facebook page Herman Laurel (fb.com/hermantiulaurel) and the Global Talk News Radio Facebook page (fb.com/globaltalknewsradio). He is also now the host of the radio and live stream program Sulo ng Pilipino on DZRJ 810AM, which broadcasts every Saturday 7AM to 8AM.
He is a former columnist of Daily Tribune (INFOWARS and DIE HARD III; Mondays and Wednesday) and OpinYon (Consumers’ Demand!, Critic’s Critic, and People’s Struggle; weekly). He hosted Talk News TV and Journeys: Chronicles of our Asian Century, both on Global News Network.
He was also the former Administrator of the Philippine Refugee Processing Center (PRPC; now called the Bataan Technology Park, Inc.) during the administration of Corazon C. Aquino.
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