Winnie Monsod Can’t Figure What President Duterte Wants To Say At APEC Forum

Former Socioeconomic Planning secretary Winnie Monsod was close to praising President Rodrigo Duterte profusely for his “excellent” speech at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit on November 9, except that she couldn’t understand his response to a question during the open forum.

In her November 11 column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Monsod dissected President Duterte’s response to the question: “We have seen a rise in anti-globalization feelings, particularly in certain developed countries. How do you think APEC should be reacting to that?”

After saying that “globalization, to a certain extent, has really damaged poor economies,” Monsod said none of President Duterte’s response made sense anymore.

As an economics professor at the University of the Philippines, Monsod said she was puzzled that President Duterte called America “the first victim of globalization,” and China was the big winner.

“But wasn’t America the rich country and China the poor country? So globalization helped rather than damaged the poor country, right?” she asked.

Monsod said she also cannot figure out what President Duterte meant when he said the Philippines “bright boys” are going to the US.

“Huh? Didn’t he just say that the United States was the victim rather than the beneficiary of globalization?” she said.

Monsod couldn’t help but shake her head – figuratively – with President Duterte’s remark that the products imported by the Philippines are “four times the original cost” of the raw materials exported by the country.

“Good grief. Has he looked at our export list recently? It seems this is what he learned in college 50 years ago, and he thinks it is still so today,” she said.

For Monsod, the “supreme irony” of President Duterte’s remark was his lengthy speech to the Filipino community on globalization after the APEC CEO forum.

“He expounded on how we were being victimized by globalization to a group that is benefiting from it,” she said.

Source: Politics