Rasti Delizo is an international affairs analyst and a longtime socialist activist in the Philippines. He is currently a vice president of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP, Solidarity of Filipino Workers).
Amid rising tensions in the Southeast Asian Sea, both the US and China are courting the Philippines. Most Filipinos would prefer a nonaligned foreign policy — but Manila’s elites keep lining up with the US, further threatening regional peace and stability.
Millions of Filipino workers travel abroad each year to labor in dangerous, exhausting, and unregulated conditions. Scattered throughout the world, these hyperexploited workers have been delivered by the Philippine state to serve the needs of foreign powers.