At past 3 p.m., Philippine standard time, American businessman Donald John Trump won over Democrat standard-bearer Hillary Clinton, and the initial reactions on his impending win were mostly negative not only in the US but across the globe.
The country’s stock markets supposedly got nervous as stocks tumbled on hearing Trump’s decisive margin over Clinton. There were police cordons set up around Trump’s supporters due to the expected outrage from Clinton supporters.
In social media, a lot of US citizens have posted jokes about moving to Canada even as the Canadian immigration website supposedly crashed after its servers overloaded with requests for immigration from Americans.
Here in the country, collective groans can be heard over the possibility of a Trump presidency as it represents a likely seismic shift in US political and economic policies towards the Philippines, whose president has fired potshots at the US.
The Cebu business community voiced concern that the mogul/reality TV star and incoming US leader will implement protectionist economic measures that raise fears of business process outsourcing (BPO) centers and other US investments closing shop/being withdrawn from the country and moved towards friendlier countries.
In that respect, President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that he will call on the Filipinos to “sacrifice” may prove prophetic with Trump’s election since the former reality TV show host has shown a propensity towards aggressive backlash to anyone or anything that he sees as detrimental to US policies and interests.
In fact, Trump saw and used Duterte’s denunciation of the US as proof that America has lost its standing in the global stage due to what he claimed as Obama being “too soft” on allies and enemies alike.
We share the Filipino community’s dread in the event that both leaders clash on the world stage as it may have severe ramifications on the Filipino-American community in the US and their Filipino families whom they send their hard-earned dollar remittances to without fail.
While Philippine-US relations are still intact, they can be frayed and strained even to the breaking point should Trump continue with his outgoing predecessor’s stance in questioning and criticizing the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs which had claimed more than 4,000 lives as of this month.
Then again, Mr. Duterte’s declaration of an independent foreign policy that would reduce dependence on US in favor of countries like China and Russia that don’t question his relentless war on illegal drugs should become the new s ociopolitical-economic reality for Filipinos, who have gotten used to decades of American influence.
The effect may or may not be immediate, but it will come. And it is up to Filipinos to adjust and cope with this changing world order the best way they know how.