Of all the major Philippine dailies,
it was only the Inquirer that carried
the cancellation of the China 'rail'
loans on its front page today
The Inquirer's secret sauce? On top of its pro-US stance against Chinese expansionist thrust in the South China Sea, the paper had transferred former business editors to the news desk, who correctly grasped the economic and geopolitical implications of the DOTR announcement yesterday about the Philippines cancelling the major China loans for the various Duterte government-railway projects.
Congratulations are in order to Transportation Undersecretary Cesar Chavez, incidentally a former journalist, for his frank and comprehensive statements as to why the Philippine government has reached such a jolting decision.
In case the finer points of the news have escaped you, Chavez said it was actually then Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez who had decided to walk away from the Chinese funding agreements.
The ever discreet Dominguez just kept quiet and played all along, and allowed outgoing Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade to again crow about the revival of the Bicol Express even on the last week of the Duterte administration, during the re-opening of the San Pablo-Lucena rail link.
But then again, in this land of toxic politics, "negas" and "bobo na-bitter pa" commenters, there is really a need for charming bullshitters like Tugade if the government has to overcome the toxins daily being excreted by both the mainstream and social media.
And to the credit of President Duterte, despite the Left-Dilawan-Rappler painting him a Xi Jinping BFF, the foul-mouthed "authoritarian" gave the liberty to his finance secretary, absent the breast-beating, to walk away at our own terms.
So, who is the China stooge now?
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