So now the Yellowtards (that clique of self-styled “leaders” of the Philippine Opposition) have moved on and latched on to another one of those news snippets that they hope will give them their next validation fix. It’s now about the purported “snubbing” of President Rodrigo Duterte by the host of this year’s G20 summit. According to a Rappler “report”…
“The Philippines did not belong to the invited guest countries,” said the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government of Germany.
…but it seems that the Germans stopped short of releasing any information on why Duterte was not invited. And so, true to form, the “social news network” that is God’s Gift to Journalism filled the gaps by describing the non-invitation as “odd”…
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[…] given that he is ASEAN chairman this year and tradition holds that the ASEAN chairman is invited to the G20 Summit.
The important question to ask, however, is this: How important is the G20 Summit to the Philippines? Does not attending the G20 Summit pass the So What? Test? It seems that the G20 is relevant to the Philippines only as far as any consensus the forum might achieve on the West’s approach to dealing with China. Indeed, many observers continue to note that the key developed economies of the G20, including Japan, have very little in common in the way their governments individually deal with China. Furthermore, back in 2016, City University of Hong Kong associate professor Reuben Mondejar suggested that, regarding the G20 Summit’s relevance beyond being a big powow of globo-powers, the Philippines “needs no new opening to sustain economic growth as it is now fueled by sustained revenues from the business process outsourcing sector and remittances from Filipinos overseas” and even affirmed that it is “thriving on its own merit, driven by domestic demand, and it can sustainably support its own growth.”
Leftist Filipinos (who currently identify with the broader Opposition in being highly-critical of Duterte today) are also adamant that the G20 is “lacking in mandate and legitimacy to steer the direction of the global economy.” This is the position they took back in 2009 in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis.
What Duterte’s critics — and that Rappler news “report” — should have highlighted is the specific nature of any missed opportunity (if any) Duterte had caused the Philippines for not being included in this year’s G20 Summit in Germany. As far as the Philippines is concerned, the bulk of its priorities are far more basic than anything of consequence to the big-power issues that are tackled in the G20. It is highly unlikely that countries at that level of influence can be bothered with a country’s need to continue eking out a living off its army of overseas workers, building a navy of more than two modern warships, winning a “war” on rampant criminality, ridding its legislature of pork barrel thievery, and transforming its public transport infrastructure from a post-World-War-II national embarrassment into a modern gleaming asset worthy of pride.
So, going back to the question then of why Yellowtards are so “concerned” about Duterte not being invited to the G20 summit, the new question becomes, Ano nga ba?
What’s the big deal? The common denominator here seems to be a disturbing fixation on gaining approval from the West. This is, of course, not surprising considering the ideological heritage of the Yellowtards, a.k.a. the Philippines’ Liberal Party. The Yellowtards derive legitimacy from the liberal democratic ideals espoused by the global powers-that-be in Western Europe and North America. The need to seek validation of what is right or wrong in the Philippines from the West is consistent with the way the Opposition have, over the last 12 months to date, rabidly invited the foreign media and a motley crew of personalities and “rapporteurs” to meddle in the country’s domestic affairs. It is ironic now that they use Duterte’s being chairman of the ASEAN as ammunition to criticise him. What flies way above the pointed heads of these “critics” is the fact that Duterte has actually been busy turning the Philippines back into a real southeast Asian nation. Indeed, I wrote back then in that article…
Times have changed. As we have seen, the ascent to power of Duterte manifests a change in what Filipinos consider to be the good of their society. Duterte replaces that traditional “good” long considered to be embodied by the “victors” in the 1986 “people power revolution” now known simply as “the Yellows”. Duterte won on the back of mass disillusionment over the broken promise of 1986 that was 30 years in the slow making. Under the Yellows, liberalist democracy was perverted beyond all recognition and turned into nothing more than a pillar that propped up an expanded class of oligarchs that consolidated and concentrated power in Imperial Manila.
The Yellowtards represent the broken promise of development within the Western ideological sphere. Duterte is trying something different. And where there is a change in approach, the one’s most heavily invested in the status quo are the ones likely to fight tooth and nail to block change.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
If you just set out to be liked, you will be prepared to compromise on anything at anytime, and would achieve nothing.
The whole Philippines society is a disgrace to human kind.
But without the Yellowtards as you call them, it make me wonder what you could be writing right now if Duterte had not gone for the election?
So agreed the Yellowtards sucks as all others Pinoys but at least you can recon that without them you would have nothing to shine and masturbate your intellect…
hey you D. your comment is your own opinion. do not drag the rest of the filipinos with it. refresh your memory- duterte was voted by the majority. you and your yellow LP is gone forever.
who are they to direct us what to do? as long the pilipinos support the president against corruption, drugs, and terrorism, we’re 3 steps ahead of them. they just envy our president duterte no doubt about it and he’s more intelligent than them.
My impression of G20 is that it’s a big boy’s club of the bigger 20 countries. I doubt the Philippines actually has any business being part of that. So if it’s “by tradition,” then it’s just optional. I wonder what we’re going to contribute or get from that summit anyway. Many other people, especially conspiracy theory buffs, believe that it’s where the “real controllers” of the world make their plans to make fake wars or mind-control people, or keep another country poor, and all that.
I’d say being unwelcome and constantly lampooned by the majority in the country one was supposed to have been elected in is far more degrading.
Is our country one of the members of the G20? I don’t think so. :\
Maybe they were just nervous that during one of his long-winded mutterings his tourettes would flare up and he’d embarrass all with yet more bad language insults. Or maybe they simply saw no point in his presence…
Comes in a popular Filipino question: “Kikita ba tayo diyan?” (Will we profit from it?)
Aren’t these ‘gatherings’ supposed to be mutually beneficial, not just one country always trying to profit without offering anything worthwhile – a fair amount of giving & taking? Maybe that’s why we’re ignored – nothing worthwhile to offer, our end goal is just to take…
Aaban: there’s probably some truth in that. “Why aren’t you sons of bitches giving us more money?”.
It’s hard to figure out where else our money comes from really, that really props up our abysmal economy (but improving apparently??). We get foreign money from the cheap labor we send overseas, we get foreign money from tourists, & we get foreign money from overseas investors in tourism for those visiting foreign tourists who spend lots of money here.
As an aside and in terms of tourism, I wonder if this grand alliance with China is a little worrying. Also considering the number of western tourists has now dropped over the last year – not keen on drug wars, martial law in any form and verbal abuse of their leaders I guess. But on the whole western tourists spent lots of money and then went home , told their friends who’d then come and do the same. However, it seems to me the Chinese are far keener on owning the places they visit, such as resorts, hotels, restaurants, etc – and then sending the profit after expenses back to China. Just a thought…
the best thing to do is ignore these delaying tactics by the yellows and if they continues, just arrest them it’s already sedition. the pilipinos must move on quickly before it’s too late. and as long as luisita is there, this change the president is eyeing isn’t gonna happened. so distribute luisita immediately.
The country has always had very little political clout, inside and outside the SEA region. How does the international community perceive the Philippines? Nothing but a dysfunctional puppet state of the US. Can’t even stand up in its own feet without begging for handouts, be it arms to protect its people or food to even feed them. It’s no better than Somalia in that sense. It would be nothing short of embarrassment to have a country like this stand toe to toe with those who actually can support themselves.
Why would the G-20 invite the leader of this unimportant little piss-ant country when it is not a member?
The G20 (or G-20 or Group of Twenty) is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. Currently, these are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union.
Notice that The Philippines is NOT a member.
Let me add that the current “outsourcing (call center) business that this country depends on has reached its saturation point and I predict that within 5 to 10 years it will be nearly nonexistent. Companies are retrenching and seeing the value of keeping those services in house where people speak the same version of English and where the agent has the ability to go beyond the scripted page.
true, and don’t forget that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will replace the “human” call center agents in the near future. Technology is now improving lately but we, the humans will become more lazy & unemployed.
Jerry: I hate dealing with Filipino call-centre agents. I try to talk to them as politely as possible, but it’s clear that most of them either (a) barely have the brains to figure out which way to put on the headset or (b) are told to be deliberately obtuse by their bosses, in order to get rid of the customer. I don’t know which one it is, but either way, it’s always a massive ordeal. Even if they can actually fix the issue – which is perhaps 10% of the time – it takes ten times longer than it ought to. As you said, clients are probably discovering that they’re wasting money on these operations and will relocate elsewhere within a few years.
Aaban: remember that flow of foreign money is not actually money. Ultimately, it’s a piece of paper that only has meaning in the country where it was issued. That vast flow of dollars coming into the country is needed to pay for the imports that the Philippines relies upon, and it relies upon imports because it has no local industry. The matching outflow of exports is almost entirely raw materials, with a very low value. The country is basically selling itself, piece by piece. And it’s STILL running massive trade imbalance (exports lower than imports).
Expulsion of all Filipino workers from foreign countries is probably the best thing that could happen to this place. It could easily be justified on the grounds that the Philippines makes it difficult-to-impossible for foreigners to work here or operate businesses, ie., there is no reciprocity. A ban on travel would have similar effects. The import-based economy would instantly collapse, and the government would either be forced to restructure the laws that prevent Filipinos from earning an honest living, or risk a revolution.
The Philippines is a NON-Issue as far its economic strentgh goes. The Philippines is a banana republic, has virtually NO INDUSTRY, its citizens are basically poor, but some are well-educated, by modern standards and it can not compete with its neighbors in S E Asia as far as anything economic goes. Its business model is: PAY ME, PAY ME, PAY ME, getting a business is nothing short of a gigantic hassle, so who needs the country? I MEAN, REALLY ? No one needs the Philippines and that is why the country was not invited to the G-20, because the country just doesn’t matter.
Was that retarded former President, Pnoy Aquino, ever attended a G20 summit ?
G20 countries are mostly countries that are industrialized with large economy…
The G20 countries are like the OPEC…they show their industrialized and military power to other countries. They talk about, how they can be richer and stronger…forming partnerships and behind the scene talks, on how to monopolize the world market.
These YellowTards have no real issues to come up…they just talk and talk without thinking…a bunch of retarded idiots !