The US-China factor in Philippines’ Marcos-Duterte feud comes to the fore

MANILA: For five decades Efren Purones has made a living from the sea. But the fisherman’s catches have been meagre lately.

“We spent hours here. But look, this is all we got,” he said, indicating the few fish in a bowl in his boat along the coast of Zambales, Philippines.

Some 200 kilometres away is Scarborough Shoal, where he is “sure to make money” from bountiful catches, he said. But he is reluctant to venture there.

In the past year and a half, tensions between Chinese and Philippine vessels in these waters, and around the Spratly Islands, have escalated.

In June, Chinese coastguards, armed with knives and sticks, clashed with Filipino troops; a Philippine Navy sailor lost a thumb.

The clash occurred within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but also within the vast swathe of the South China Sea claimed by Beijing, whose coastguard presence has blocked fishermen and offshore oil and gas survey efforts by the Philippines.

Observers note that tensions heightened as Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr pivoted away from his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s non-confrontational policy towards China.

“Marcos Jr pursued a harder foreign policy, which meant that Marcos Jr was more assertive in defending the Philippines’ rightful maritime claims,” University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman assistant professor of political science Edcel Ibarra told the programme Insight.

The president also allowed American troops access to more facilities in the Philippines and expanded joint exercises with the United States and its allies.

“China is reactive,” said political analyst Ramon Beleno III, who observed that “untoward incidents” initiated by Beijing in the South China Sea usually have come