With his announcement of spending an extra day in the Philippines, Bayan is preparing to hold protests against Trump in Manila and in Clark, Pampanga, the venue of the East Asia Summit. The US president will be hounded wherever he goes. He also faces people’s protests in Japan and South Korea. A Trump effigy depicting the US leader as the fascist CEO of US imperialism is being readied in Manila. The #BanTrumpPH campaign is set to kick off next week.
Trump’s Asia tour comes in the wake of domestic scandals involving Trump’s election campaign officials. His last-minute decision to join the East Asia Summit appears to be damage control, a desperate move to project strong US leadership during a crisis-filled presidency.
Trump seeks to maintain the grossly unequal relations between the US and the Philippines. He wants to make the Philippine government and Duterte proxies in the US conflict with North Korea. Trump seeks expanded US military presence in the Philippines, in the guise of fighting ISIS, to project US military power in the region against China.
Don’t expect Trump to speak out on human rights in the Philippines as his regime cares little about the issue, here and anywhere in the world. Don’t be surprised if he commits increased military aid to the Duterte government despite its bloody human rights record. The US supports the Philippine counter-insurgency program as well as Martial Law in Mindanao. Expect Trump to give Duterte the thumbs up.