It’s hard to imagine how any Filipino can be supportive of President Duterte’s submissive, fawning behavior toward China notwithstanding the latter’s belligerent claim over a huge area of our marine-rich waters. No matter how disillusioned we may have grown with our country, when our poor fishermen are shooed away from earning their living in our very own seas, it’s natural that our sense of nationalism will impel us to be outraged at the bully of Asia. No matter how disheartened we may have become with our past leaders and supportive of the current one, when our navy personnel are harassed by a country which lost in an international tribunal that decided our conflicting sea claims, it’s instinctive that our spirit of patriotism will drive us to be enraged at the foreign aggressor.

Butuyan, J. R. (2021, May 10). What explains Duterte's behavior toward China?. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A6.