Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital

Our chapter examines the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) investments during Rodrigo Duterte’s administration (2016-present). Duterte’s “China pivot” opened the Philippines to BRI investments. We ask: to what extent has BRI investments or Chinese capital increased since the beginning of the Duterte...

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Main Authors: Camba, Alvin, Cruz, Jerik, Magat, Janica, Tritto, Angela
Format: text
Published: Archīum Ateneo 2021
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Online Access:https://archium.ateneo.edu/economics-faculty-pubs/164
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789908701/9781789908701.00021.xml
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Institution: Ateneo De Manila University
id ph-ateneo-arc.economics-faculty-pubs-1171
record_format eprints
spelling ph-ateneo-arc.economics-faculty-pubs-11712022-02-24T05:46:59Z Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital Camba, Alvin Cruz, Jerik Magat, Janica Tritto, Angela Our chapter examines the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) investments during Rodrigo Duterte’s administration (2016-present). Duterte’s “China pivot” opened the Philippines to BRI investments. We ask: to what extent has BRI investments or Chinese capital increased since the beginning of the Duterte administration? We argue that despite the stronger relations between the Philippines and China; the progress of BRI projects has largely been uneven. First; the progress of major construction contracts by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) was determined by consolidated elite support; such as that in the military; nationally significant political elites; and government technocrats. We illustrate the argument through the case of the Kaliwa Dam; showing that the dam has made significant progress despite the project’s economic unviability and numerous procedural anomalies. Afterwards; we briefly map the importance of consolidated elite support into all the other BRI projects. Second; we show that Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) massively increased in the Philippines. The sector that most represents this trend is the online gambling industry. Similar to the BRI projects; online gambling needed consolidated elite support to progress. However; the nature of the sector and the structure of the Philippine economy necessitated a different type of elite coalition for online gambling projects. 2021-10-22T07:00:00Z text https://archium.ateneo.edu/economics-faculty-pubs/164 https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789908701/9781789908701.00021.xml Economics Department Faculty Publications Archīum Ateneo Belt and Road Initiative Build Build Build Kaliwa Dam Infrastructure Governance Online Gambling Economics Infrastructure Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
institution Ateneo De Manila University
building Ateneo De Manila University Library
continent Asia
country Philippines
Philippines
content_provider Ateneo De Manila University Library
collection archium.Ateneo Institutional Repository
topic Belt and Road Initiative
Build
Build
Build
Kaliwa Dam
Infrastructure Governance
Online Gambling
Economics
Infrastructure
Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
spellingShingle Belt and Road Initiative
Build
Build
Build
Kaliwa Dam
Infrastructure Governance
Online Gambling
Economics
Infrastructure
Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
Camba, Alvin
Cruz, Jerik
Magat, Janica
Tritto, Angela
Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital
description Our chapter examines the Belt and Road Initiative’s (BRI) investments during Rodrigo Duterte’s administration (2016-present). Duterte’s “China pivot” opened the Philippines to BRI investments. We ask: to what extent has BRI investments or Chinese capital increased since the beginning of the Duterte administration? We argue that despite the stronger relations between the Philippines and China; the progress of BRI projects has largely been uneven. First; the progress of major construction contracts by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) was determined by consolidated elite support; such as that in the military; nationally significant political elites; and government technocrats. We illustrate the argument through the case of the Kaliwa Dam; showing that the dam has made significant progress despite the project’s economic unviability and numerous procedural anomalies. Afterwards; we briefly map the importance of consolidated elite support into all the other BRI projects. Second; we show that Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) massively increased in the Philippines. The sector that most represents this trend is the online gambling industry. Similar to the BRI projects; online gambling needed consolidated elite support to progress. However; the nature of the sector and the structure of the Philippine economy necessitated a different type of elite coalition for online gambling projects.
format text
author Camba, Alvin
Cruz, Jerik
Magat, Janica
Tritto, Angela
author_facet Camba, Alvin
Cruz, Jerik
Magat, Janica
Tritto, Angela
author_sort Camba, Alvin
title Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital
title_short Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital
title_full Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital
title_fullStr Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital
title_full_unstemmed Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: Elite Consolidation, Construction Contracts, and Online Gambling Capital
title_sort explaining the belt and road in the philippines: elite consolidation, construction contracts, and online gambling capital
publisher Archīum Ateneo
publishDate 2021
url https://archium.ateneo.edu/economics-faculty-pubs/164
https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781789908701/9781789908701.00021.xml
_version_ 1726158630010486784