Unrequited Love: Duterte's China embrace

It was the early 2000s. A man, appearing to be in his mid-fifties with dark hair and brown skin, arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport from a business trip to Brazil.

- IRIS GONZALES

The city of Los Angeles was meant to be a brief stop, as he was set to fly home to the Philippines. He walked past customs check and just as he was about to step out of the airport, a tall African-American officer approached him.

"May I see your passport?" the officer asked the man. Seeing that the man was carrying an official passport, the officer further probed. "Where is your letter of authority to travel? Why is it not here?"

"The man explained he was a politician back home, a congressman, but to no avail. He was then brought to an interrogation room. Exasperated and enraged, he shot back, 'If you detain me any further and if there's a plane available, I'd be happy to go home.' It was the last time he would ever set foot in the United States.

Not too long after, in 2002, this man, Rodrigo Duterte, would become mayor of his hometown Davao City, a coastal city with over 1.6 million residents on the southern island of Mindanao. It was a position he previously held for over a decade. Davao is the largest city in the country by land area."

This is the beginning of Unrequited Love: Duterte's China Embrace, a book by journalists Marites Danguilan Vitug and Camille Elemia.

It is a gripping investigative reportage on Rody Duterte's animosity toward the US, the roots of his affection for China and its implications.