While the Aquino reforms ignited great progress in the Philippines, the new president will favor inclusive growth and greater pragmatism in foreign policies that will shape Southeast Asia’s future.

The international buzz surrounding the presidential election of Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte (71), the longtime mayor of the southern Davao City, has focused on his tough talk about killing criminals and restoring the death penalty. But much of his media coverage misses the bigger picture. Duterte is a pragmatist. His initial appointments suggest that he prefers loyalists and hands-on executives who will deliver on their mandates.

The people of the Philippines elected Duterte to push reform. He hopes to defuse corruption, crime, and poverty. It is a tall order – but one that has been expected since the 1986 People Power Revolution.

It was during the brutal rule of President Ferdinand Marcos (1965 – 1986) and due to his close relationship with the Reagan administration that the Philippines became known as the “sick man of Asia.” The current (and outgoing) administration of President Benigno Aquino III has contributed to the country’s economic rejuvenation, but has ultimately failed to deliver inclusive growth. On the foreign policy front, Aquino has fostered a bilateral security alliance with Washington, but has failed to deepen economic cooperation with China, the country’s third-largest export market.

Duterte would like to surpass both failures.

From Balancing to Hedging

Since the postwar era, Manila has been Washington’s major non-NATO ally in the region. The American-Filipino relationship rests on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), and the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which allowed the U.S. Navy to return to Subic Bay and Washington to boost its military presence in the country. These measures by President Aquino and his foreign minister Albert del Rosario have complemented the U.S. pivot to Asia, including the plan to move the majority of U.S. warships to the Asian Pacific by 2020.