The six-term senator and President Barrack Obama’s former vice-president brings the Democrats back into the White House after a nail-biting race. He also comes with the first female VP, and is likely to uphold the 2016 arbitral ruling in the West Philippine Sea.
Edging out incumbent President Donald J. Trump by razor-thin margins in a number of crucial states, Democratic challenger Joseph “Joe” R. Biden Jr. is now the 46th president of the United States.
The President-elect sealed his victory with nearly 75 million popular votes, which translated into 273 electoral college votes. Earlier in the race, he scored decisive wins over his Republican rival by flipping over such states as Wisconsin and Michigan, which voted for Trump four years ago.
He later overturned and won back Pennsylvania from the Republicans, as votes from mail-in ballots, which tended to be overwhelming Democratic, eventually overtook President Trump’s lead in the state.
He’s also poised to win Nevada, Georgia and Arizona where the counting of votes is still ongoing as of press time. But President-elect Biden’s win in Pennsylvania was enough for him to secure enough votes in the electoral college.
For Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez, the result of the recent elections will only continue to strengthen US-Philippine relations. “The Philippines is one of the oldest allies of the US in Asia, and we have worked with both Republicans and Democrats,” he told PeopleAsia.
He further underscores that one important matter is the recognition of the 2016 arbitral award, which was affirmed in the recent US policy shift regarding the West Philippine Sea (also known as the South China Sea). “This received bipartisan support in the US Congress, and foreign policy advisers of Joe Biden, whom we have talked with, also told us that a Democratic administration will continue with the current US policy regarding China and the West Philippine Sea issue,” Romualdez further assured.
Romualdez also says that everyone is watching what will happen regarding US foreign policy and the cancelled Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Whether it was a Trump or Biden victory, the ambassador went on to emphasize the importance of Philippine-US relations in light of on-going global developments. “Fil-Ams are very much appreciated in the United States. Regardless of which party is in power, Filipino-Americans will thrive. Perhaps there will be some changes like in taxes or medicare benefits may vary, but they will be able to adjust accordingly. We are a resilient race, after all,” he said.
The ambassador also credited the outgoing president for confronting China on trade and the South China Sea, as well as on how he handled the North Korean nuclear problem. Trump, he added, recognized the Philippines’ arbitral win versus China over disputed waters in the South China Sea.
The man who trumped Trump
Amidst the backdrop of a deadly pandemic, unprecedented voter turnout and what was perhaps the most contentious US presidential campaign and elections in living memory, then candidate Biden, a six-term senator before serving twice as vice president to then President Barrack Obama, eked out a historic win that’s noteworthy for a number of reasons.
Turning 78 on Nov. 20, Biden would be the oldest president-elect in US history when he takes his oath of office with running mate Kamala Harris this January. Kamala, for her part, would be the first woman in the US to become vice president.
Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to a close-knit working-class Irish family, President-elect Biden would also be the only second Catholic to hold the highest office in America. The distinction of being the first belongs to the late President John F. Kennedy who, during his time at the Oval Office, was the youngest president to reside at the White House. Like Biden, Kennedy also took pride in his Irish heritage.
He and second wife Jill, a teacher, are practicing Catholics and usually attend mass at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware, the president-elect’s adoptive state.
Will Biden’s Catholic faith, which he credits for overcoming a number of personal crises that have come his way, including the death of his first wife and young daughter from a car crash in 1972 and the more recent death of eldest son Beau Biden to brain cancer in 2015, resonate with Filipinos, majority of whom are also Catholics?
During one of his interviews with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour during the height of the presidential campaign, Biden fished out an old rosary from one of his pants pocket and showed it to his interviewer. Looking teary-eyed, a smiling Biden revealed to Christiane that the rosary once belonged to Beau, a lawyer and former attorney general of Delaware.
Joanne Rae Ramirez, editor-in-chief of PeopleAsia, in her Nov. 3 column for The Philippine STAR, writes: “According to reports, Joe Biden often makes the sign of the cross and looks toward the sky when saying something he jokingly might need to apologize for, regularly referring to the nuns who taught him during 12 years in Catholic school in Delaware.”
Quoting Filipino-American film director Ramona Diaz on Biden, Joanne further writes: “Now, several recent TV ads from Biden’s campaign show him standing with Pope Francis or huddled with a Jesuit priest. He’s reading from a pulpit, bowing his head in prayer, or standing solemnly in front of a church’s stained-glass window.”
“During an interview with Stephen Colbert, Biden, who was once denied Holy Communion by a priest in South Carolina because he is pro-choice, said that his faith and his Catholic rituals helped him deal with tragedies in his life.”
