Oliva. Alan Christopher S. Int’l Rel.

w/ Consular Practice and Diplomatic Affairs

AB Political Science Prof. Frances Pauline Brillantes

During his campaign, President Rodrigo Duterte was very aggressive in making
statements that concern the international relation of the Philippines. From slamming Mexico for
its domestic turmoil concerning illegal drugs up to his challenge to United States and Australia to
severe their ties to the Philippines. Duterte, prior to his presidency, did not laid down concrete
plans as to the foreign policy of the Philippines. Yesterday, President Rodrigo Duterte delivered
his speech for his first State of the Nation Address and many were excited for they could hear
what really the plans of the President for our country are. As his first SONA is now concluded,
what are President Duterte’s plans and focus for our foreign policy?

1. What is President Duterte's foreign policy plans for the next six years?

In his speech, President Duterte stated that: “We also endeavor to develop and corporate
partnerships with nations sharing common interests and concerns with the Philippines; maintain
and sustain bilateral and multilateral consultations and dialogues… We have to strengthen our
coordination with Indonesia and Malaysia to suppress the kidnappings in the waters of our
neighboring countries.” This means that our foreign policy for the next 6 years will uphold
diplomacy by sustaining bilateral and multilateral consultations and dialogues as primary means
of our foreign relations and that our government will focus on solving transnational crimes by
having a strict cooperation with neighboring states. By building partnership with states
possessing similar interests and concerns with ours, the Philippines will be keen in remaining
committed to the partnership in order to achieve long term peace and progress internationally and
domestically.

2. What are the prospects, opportunities, and challenges in Philippine Foreign Relations for the
new administration?

President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncements regarding our foreign policy during his first
SONA are very limited. However, given his speech, the possible thing that could happen is that
we’ll be having a closer relationship with our neighboring countries. Our international relation
will focus more on South-East Asian cooperation, especially that there are many transnational
crimes happening within the region which the President wants to address. Also, since the focus is
international cooperation, the Philippines might have a more prosperous relation with other states
especially now that Philippines is gaining support from many different countries with regard to
the West-Philippine Sea issue.

3. What are President Duterte and the DFA's plans to address cross-border issues such as
extremism, territorial disputes, human trafficking and environmental security?

As to the issue of cross-border issues, President Duterte said that the administration will
try to strengthen its ties with neighboring countries such Indonesia and Malaysia to stop
kidnappings within our waters and the neighboring countries’. President Duterte stated that: “We
will continue to expand cooperation on human assistance, disaster response, maritime security,
and counter terrorism. We shall deepen security dialogues with other nations to build greater
understanding and cooperation.” With these, Duterte aims to build stronger ties with other
countries, especially the neighboring ones, to address transnational crimes more swiftly. As to
extremism, Duterte mentioned that “We will strengthen our counter-terrorism programs by
amending various laws on human terrorism, terrorism financing and cybercrime.” This we can
draw that Duterte is keen on coordinating with other states to solve the issues of terrorism
brought upon by extremism. In settling disputes, President Duterte, as already mentioned in the
earlier part of this paper, wants to uphold diplomacy through bilateral and/or multilateral talks.
With regard the dispute in West-Philippine Sea, Duterte said that the Philippines recognizes the
decision of International Court of Arbitration as a contribution to a peaceful dispute settlement.
With regard to environmental security, the Philippines will address global warming as its top
priority only to the extent that the measures will not damage our economy.