DURING the gala dinner at the Asean summit, President Rodrigo Duterte broke into an unrehearsed and impromptu song number to oblige a request from visiting US President Donald Trump. This is what the critics of President Duterte have been inflicting on him. But President Duterte has created a new modality for resisting neo-colonialist, orientalist impositions. President Duterte did not play to the orientalist world view of international diplomacy. He defies orientalism by not seeking affirmation in a world that is structurally hostile to his natural as a President of the Filipinos.

Source: Manila Times November 15, 2017 16:18 UTC