Has Philippine President Marcos outplayed the Dutertes in impeachment fight?
'It's political jujitsu,' said historian Manolo Quezon, a former palace insider under presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III. In the 2022 elections, Marcos Jnr and Duterte-Carpio campaigned together as a unified ticket and secured landslide victories. However, the alliance between them and their politically powerful families has transformed into a bitter public feud over the last year, with the vice-president even making public threats of assassination .
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Philippine VP Sara Duterte to fight impeachment case in escalating clash with Marcos Jnr Philippine VP Sara Duterte to fight impeachment case in escalating clash with Marcos Jnr Despite that, Marcos Jnr had consistently described the effort to impeach the vice-president as an unnecessary government distraction before Wednesday's vote, describing it as a 'storm in a teacup' amid growing calls among his allies to oust her from office.
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AllAfrica
3 days ago
- AllAfrica
What India can teach the US about digital finance
The new US administration has made digital finance an early priority, championing three pieces of legislation governing digital assets—the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. The first bill was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 18, while the latter two recently advanced to the Senate. The laws have given a boost to advocates of digital assets, but face harsh criticism from consumer advocacy groups and experts over safety and stability concerns. As US policymakers continue to consider the promise and perils of digital finance, they should look toward the experience of India, a global leader in digital payments and digital public infrastructure, for critical lessons on the centralization and adoption of consumer-facing digital finance. Although the bills collectively clarify the federal regulation of many digital assets for the first time, they broadly sideline the federal government from the developing ecosystem of digital finance. The clearest manifestation of this trend is the ban on Federal Reserve digital currencies in the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, a policy that—if enacted—would make the United States an international outlier. For its part, the CLARITY Act would effectively reduce federal scrutiny of digital assets like cryptocurrencies. These aspects of the new legislation represent components of a broader agenda of deregulation, but they carry particular risks for the development of secure and successful digital finance in the United States. India offers a useful lesson in productive state-led digital finance, demonstrating a healthy balance between public-led initiatives and private sector partnerships that ultimately deliver quality options to consumers. India's central government has proactively developed 'digital public infrastructure' (DPI) under the India Stack framework and positioned the state as a provider of digital public goods. In India's digital payments ecosystem, for instance, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) oversees the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and serves as the central hub for real-time transactions between banks, payment service providers, and consumers. However, because of UPI's openness and interoperability, private sector platforms are among the biggest winners of India's digital finance revolution, including US firms—Google Pay and PhonePe (owned by Walmart) process nearly 90% of transactions. Moreover, government involvement through the centralized hub unlocks improved consumer data protection and record-keeping to combat fraud and financial crime. India's experience also demonstrates the key role of adoption in the transition to digital finance. Certainly, many of the initial applications of stablecoin technology will be for back-end transactions in financial markets, but US companies will eventually look to harness consumer-facing stablecoins to ease retail payment costs and enable new offers or discounts. As consumers adapt to novel technologies and navigate a potential proliferation of digital asset offerings, adoption will be a major roadblock—especially given the sluggish US shift to digital payments. India's digital finance adoption has been remarkable. With difficult initial conditions, the Asian country has emerged as the global leader in real-time digital payments, processing 18 billion transactions each month. The Indian government achieved this rapid adoption through forward-looking initiatives that laid the groundwork for the digital finance ecosystem, including the aggressive implementation of the 'JAM trinity' of banking, identification, and mobile access. Then, in designing the ecosystem, NPCI prioritized simplicity, convenience, and cross-platform integration—all boons for otherwise reluctant or unaccustomed consumers. Lastly, political initiatives played a major role in pitching digital finance to the wider population, exemplified by the public-facing Digital India program. Due to variations in economy and demography, the Indian experience does not map directly onto the United States, but policymakers should heed the universalizable lessons on the importance of complementary digital infrastructure, consumer-friendly principles, and awareness-building. How can US officials integrate these insights into the policy agenda for digital assets? First, the US government should embrace centralization, either through proactive public development or—more likely—through pointed regulation of private sector players. For back-end stablecoin applications, the development of a central hub akin to NPCI would lend stability to the emerging digital financial system, as well as improved documentation and cybersecurity. For consumer-facing applications, although the US government is unlikely to develop or require a unified digital assets platform, regulations aimed at ensuring openness and interoperability will help stem the growth of a complicated landscape of siloed proprietary stablecoins. Second, if the administration intends on making the United States the 'undisputed leader in digital assets,' it must take adoption seriously. To build up complementary infrastructure, India proliferated bank accounts and mobile phones—the US government could focus on augmenting connectivity or spreading access to new financial technologies like digital wallets. Moreover, adoption relies on trust. If regulators continue to underdeliver on consumer protection, the United States will struggle to maintain leadership on digital assets for retail applications. But if the US government follows the Indian example, companies and consumers alike will benefit from the new era of digital assets. Andrew Gordan is a Motwani Jadeja US-India fellow at the Pacific Forum, where he researches Indian tech diplomacy. He also serves as a junior fellow in the South Asia Program at The Stimson Center think tank. He received his BA in Government from Harvard and is a recipient of the Boren and Fulbright-Nehru scholarships. He has previously worked at The Council on Foreign Relations, Wilson Center and Harvard's Davis Center.
South China Morning Post
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Advertisement The House has launched investigations asserting that Biden's closest advisers covered up a physical and mental decline during the 82-year-old Democrat's presidency. The Senate has started a series of hearings focused on his mental fitness. And Trump's White House has opened its own investigation into the Biden administration's use of the presidential autopen , which Trump has called 'one of the biggest scandals in the history of our country'. It all fits with Trump's practice of blaming his predecessors for the nation's ills. Just last week, he tried to deflect criticism of his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case by casting blame on others, including Biden. Turning the spotlight back on the former president carries risks for both parties heading into the 2026 midterms. The more Republicans or Democrats talk about Biden, the less they can make arguments about the impact of Trump's presidency – positive or negative – especially his sweeping new tax cut and spending law that is reshaping the federal government. 'Most Americans consider Joe Biden to be yesterday's news,' Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. Republicans intensify focus on Biden's legacy, risking distraction from Trump's agenda. Photo: AP Republicans want Biden's autopen to become a flashpoint
South China Morning Post
17-07-2025
- South China Morning Post
US Senate passes aid, public broadcasting cuts in victory for Trump
The US Senate early on Thursday approved President Donald Trump's plan for billions of dollars in cuts to funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting, handing the Republican president another victory as he exerts control over Congress with little opposition. The Senate voted 51 to 48 in favour of Trump's request to cut US$9 billion in spending already approved by Congress. Most of the cuts are to programmes to assist foreign countries suffering from disease, war and natural disasters, but the plan also eliminates all US$1.1 billion the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years. Trump and many of his fellow Republicans argue that spending on public broadcasting is an unnecessary expense and reject its news coverage as suffering from anti-right bias. Stand-alone rescissions packages have not passed in decades, with lawmakers reluctant to cede their constitutionally mandated control of spending. But Trump's Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in the Senate and House, have shown little appetite for resisting his policies since he began his second term in January. The US$9 billion at stake is minuscule in the context of the US$6.8 trillion federal budget, and represents only a tiny portion of all the funds approved by Congress that the Trump administration has held up while it has pursued sweeping cuts, many ordered by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
