It was no secret that Rodrigo Duterte, populist firebrand and former Philippine president, held no love for the U.S. His foreign and domestic policy throughout his controversial presidential term, which ran from mid-2016 to mid-2022, was marked by moves to bring the Philippines closer to China amid its intensifying superpower rivalry with the U.S.
These efforts were largely ignored or misunderstood by the Filipino public, many of whom unabashedly supported Duterte. Making sense of these developments is crucial as a growing number of Filipinos have become wary and distrustful of the media.
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