Marites Dañguilan Vitug and Camille Elemia, Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace, Quezon City: Bughaw, 2024. 309 pp.

Excerpt: As a presidential candidate (and later on, as a president partial to unscripted late-night press conferences), Rodrigo Duterte relied on bombastic, larger than-life pronouncements. When he was asked in 2016 what he would do about the West Philippine Sea tensions with China, Duterte gamely said he would also claim Chinese territory in return: “sasakay ako ng jet ski, dala-dala ko yung flag ng Pilipino, at pupunta ako dun sa airport nila, tapos itanim ko. Then I would say this is ours and do what you want with me. Bahala na kayo.” [I will ride a jet ski, carry a Philippine flag into their airport, and plant it there. Then I would say, “this is ours, and do what you want with me. It’s up to you.”] Five years later, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in May of 2021, Duterte downplayed his own remarks and lambasted his critics for believing them: “Iyong bravado ko was a pure campaign joke, at kung naniniwala kayo . . . I would say that you’re really stupid” [My bravado was a pure campaign joke, and if you believed me . . . I would say that you’re really stupid] (Billones 2021).