Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro’s latest pronouncement is a textbook case of speaking loudly while missing the point entirely. Sadly, some nuances are lost in play-by-play. Aren’t senior officials of Marcos Jr.’s government supposed to elevate discourse beyond “I’ve got my mouth and I’m going to use it”? It seems that Gibo is becoming increasingly a liability to the Marcos Jr. administration day by day, particularly in terms of international relations and geopolitics. Is he not?
To dismiss Chinese President Xi Jinping’s advocacy, which is actually the same advocacy of the rest of the Global South countries for a “multipolar world,” as “concerning” is not only being IGNORANT of contemporary global dynamics. It’s also a dead giveaway that he is parroting Washington’s talking points without the faintest effort at nuance.
Ignorance:
First and foremost, a multipolar world is not some sinister and creepy invention conjured in Beijing. It is, in fact, the inevitable outcome of shifting global power balances. The unipolar moment of the United States, cemented after the Cold War, is LONG GONE. Today, China, India, Russia, the EU, and even middle powers like Brazil, South Africa, Türkiye, and the rest of the Global South assert regional and sometimes global influence. The multipolarity Gibo labelled as “concerning” is simply the reality of this day and age, acknowledged in UN debates, G20 alignments, SCO and BRICS expansions, and the wider recalibration of global institutions. Thus, to call it “concerning” is, ironically, to suggest that the Philippines should resist reality itself. It’s like being scandalized that gravity exists because Washington said so. How pathetic!
Second, one wonders if Gibo Teodoro ever bothered to sit through an International Relations 101 lecture. Multipolarity is not a slogan; it is a descriptive term in geopolitics. It means that power is no longer concentrated in a single hegemon, but distributed across several poles of influence. Even U.S. strategists—begrudgingly—admit that multipolarity is here. For Gibo to blabber as “concerning” reveals not the strength of his thoughts but a GLARING IGNORANCE. This is simply a SHINING SHIMMERING IGNORANCE ON DISPLAY!
Third, it doesn’t take a seasoned geopolitical analyst or an international relations expert to detect the mimicry here or Gibo parroting Washington’s lines. Washington brands Xi’s multipolar advocacy as a threat to the “rules-based order,” a euphemism for a U.S.-centric system. Teodoro dutifully echoes this line, like a junior spokesperson rather than an independent Philippine high-ranking official, a defense secretary at that. The problem is that by doing so, he reduces the Philippines to a mere mouthpiece, forfeiting its ability to act as a credible regional player with its own strategic voice.
Fourth,in the Marcos administration, Teodoro’s job is to safeguard and protect the country’s core national interests, not to recycle Washington’s press kits. His failure to grasp the basic contours of international relations/geopolitics not only weakens the intellectual credibility of the Department of National Defense and the Philippines as a state but also deepens perceptions that Manila is incapable of independent strategic thought. For the Marcos Jr. administration, already accused of being too beholden to an external power, which is the United States, Teodoro’s ignorance makes him less a defense secretary and more a liability.
Moreover, if multipolarity frightens Gibo, perhaps he should petition the United Nations to restore unipolarity by decree—or better yet, ask Washington to issue a memo declaring gravity optional in the Western Pacific. After all, why bother with reality when you can outsource your worldview to the Pentagon? Duh!
Conclusion:
To sum up, Gibo calls Xi’s push for a multipolar world “concerning.” 🤦♂️ That’s not analysis, that’s Washington karaoke night.
Folks, newsflash, multipolarity isn’t a “Chinese invention,” it’s the world we already live in. Only someone like Gibo and his patrons on the other side of the Pacific, who are stuck in a Cold War comic book, would think otherwise.
Mr. President Marcos Jr., when your defense chief can’t tell geopolitics from Pentagon press releases, that’s not strategy—it’s liability. Hope you get this!
#ParrotingNotPolicy
#IgnoranceIsConcerning
