Ruling Marcos clan split by feud over China links
Before he was elected president of the Philippines, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos appeared to have an almost unhealthily close relationship to China.
“I think we can come to an agreement,” he said of Manila’s dispute with Beijing over islets in the South China Sea.
“People from the Chinese embassy are my friends, we have been talking about that.”
Opponents accused him of being a “Manchurian candidate”, a politician under the sway of a foreign power, after the 1962 film of the same name.
But in office he has taken a tough line, to the extent that differences of policy on China are splitting the powerful Marcos clan.
Bongbong’s sister, Imee, also the child of the late Philippines dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Sr, has accused her brother of risking a confrontation that could escalate into war.
“To prevent yet another regional conflict, what we need instead are solutions for peace,” said Imee, an elected senator and chairperson of the senate committee on foreign relations.
‘“Emotion rather than reason has prevailed in our maritime conflict with China and is leading us down a dangerous path that will cost us more than just Filipino pride.”
Chinese patrols boats have confronted Philippines vessels repeatedly at Second Thomas Shoal, an isolated reef claimed by Beijing.
The Philippines boats carry supplies to the Sierra Madre, a World War II naval ship that Manila deliberately grounded on Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to assert its sovereignty over the small reef.
The rusting hulk serves as a de facto base for an isolated detachment of Filipino marines who are the object of scrutiny and harassment by Chinese forces.
In response, President Marcos has ordered the creation of a national maritime council with orders to strengthen national security and to elicit donations and other contributions from governments, such as the United States and Japan.
It is this attempt to enlist foreign governments in the dispute that alarms Imee. “Such largesse has been the fuel to never-ending conflict,” she said.
For years, the Marcos family and Chinese diplomats have cultivated close relations with one another.
China has a consulate in the city of Laoag in Ilocos Norte, an unlikely base for Chinese diplomats unless you know that it is the heart of Marcos territory.
Officially, it promotes trade and investment in the northern Philippines; unofficially, it builds influence among the Marcos-dominated political class.
Local and national governments in China are generous to a region with no obvious connections to Beijing.
Shandong province has given rice and medical supplies to Ilocos Norte. This bounty was “facilitated” by the Marcoses.
But in the intensifying atmosphere of confrontation between China and the United States, smaller power countries are under increasing pressure to pick a side.
President Marcos has clearly chosen the US and its allies.