Philippines' Duterte waiting on China dividend

Two years after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced a divorce with old ally the United States in return for bumper business ties with China, he doesn't have much to show for it.

Duterte left Beijing in 2016 with $24 billion of Chinese loans and investment pledges for his ambitious infrastructure overhaul, a few weeks after saying the Philippines was being treated like a dog by Washington and would be better off with China.

But only a fraction of China's pledged support has materialized, exposing Duturte to criticisms he has been complicit in allowing China to pose threats to Philippines' sovereignty, and been left high and dry by Beijing.

When Xi Jinping visits the Philippines this week, Duterte will need the Chinese president to put his money where his mouth is and help Duterte justify his geopolitical concessions to a historic rival, according to Richard Heydarian, a Manila-based defense and security analyst.

"Otherwise, we can definitely conclude that there's really nothing much in the rhetoric and the Philippines has been taken for a ride," Heydarian said. "Duterte's naivety with China has been a slam dunk strategic coup for China, no doubt about it."

Philippine's Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said it would be unreasonable to expect all the Chinese pledges to come through after only two years, but officials were hopeful intervention by Xi after his visit could help.

"We're very optimistic this will, their head of state, will pressure their bureaucracy to speed up the process," he said last week.

Duterte's signature "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure program, the centerpiece of his economic strategy, involves 75 flagship projects of which about half are earmarked for Chinese loans, grants or investments.

But according to publicly available Philippine government documents reviewed by Reuters, only three of those - two bridges and an irrigation facility worth a combined $167 million - have so far broken ground.