Ateneo University Press launches new book on former president Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot to China, ‘Unrequited Love’

On 18 July 2024, the Ateneo University Press launched its newest book, Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace, written by Marites Dañguilan Vitug and Camille Elemia. The book is the “story of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot to China,” from the factors that influenced him, the results of the policy shift on the West Philippine Sea, the rule of law, Chinese loans, grants, and pledges for infrastructure and other projects, attempts to influence the military, the political parties, Philippine media, and the public and how various institutions responded. 

The launch, organized in partnership with the Institute of Maritime and Ocean Affairs, took place at Bahay ng Alumni in UP Diliman, and was attended by Senator Risa Hontiveros, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio (ret.), Senator Leila de Lima, students, journalists, and scholars. 

In his remarks, Justice Carpio said: “Marites Vitug masterfully put together for posterity, in the block-buster thriller Rock Solid, the story of how we won the landmark Arbitral Award of July 12, 2016. Today, in Unrequited Love, the sequel to Rock Solid, Marites Vitug and Camille Elemia again masterfully weave together into a coherent whole, for posterity, our painful struggles in defending the West Philippine Sea during those terribles years when President Duterte, while in office, acted as the principal defender of China in the West Philippine Sea against Philippine national interest.”

“More than two years ago,” said Ms Vitug in her message about Unrequited Love, “Camille Elemia and I started the journey that would lead to this book. Our first out-of-town field work was in Nueva Ecija, in a sprawling military camp where the 10,000-bed Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center stood. It was the symbol of China’s huge support for Duterte’s centerpiece program.”

“But as you will read in the book, it was a mega hype,” she said, adding: “Unrequited Love chronicles [stories] that show a one-sided affair. A kind of love story that took place amid the backdrop of waves of Chinese intrusions in the West Philippine Sea.”

Senator Hontiveros, an early reviewer of the book, spoke of the problems caused by the former President’s pivot to China, including how those actions and choices led the country to its current state now regarding the West Philippine Sea. 

This was followed by a panel discussion among the authors and speakers, moderated by Christian Esguerra of the Facts First podcast.

Ateneo University Press Director Rica Bolipata Santos closed the evening with her remarks. “Marites Vitug and Camille Elemia hold the line through their fearless reportage on the past administrations ‘romance’ with Beijing, tracing the genealogy of the recent exposés on mayors with questionable citizenships and hectares of POGO compounds,” she said. “I think it is important that Vitug and Elemia chose to couch their book in the romance genre, for it is a narrative of unequal relations that border on martyrdom, the love-lorn character pining for some powerful object and desire.”

The evening ended with a book signing with the authors. 

Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace is now available at the Ateneo University Press:

Shopee: https://go.ateneo.net/ULshop

Lazada: https://go.ateneo.net/ULlaz

or at the Ateneo Press Bookshop, Bellarmine Hall, Ateneo de Manila University

For bulk and international orders, email books.unipress@ateneo.edu.