Binondo Bridge under construction TMT FILE PHOTO
BACK in 2016, in one of his first official trips abroad, then President Rodrigo Duterte famously made obeisance to the government of Beijing, declaring a "separation" from the US and in return, bringing home a reported $24 billion in investment pledges. The promise of Chinese funding was a welcome boost to the president's "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure drive, and was advertised as the ticket to a new golden era of more jobs than the country would know what to do with and riches for everyone.