Maynilad and Manila Water responsible for the water shortage, protesters also blamed the Duterte government for allowing public services to be operated for corporate profits. Duterte would addressed the issue by threatening to terminate the contract with Manila Water and Maynilad amid the water crisis. Protests against overseas ties with Duterte Ties with China Most militant groups decried the ties between President Duterte and China over the occupation of Chinese vessels and the reported harassment of Filipino fisherfolk amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea. On July 12, 2018, tarpaulin banners read "WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES, PROVINCE OF CHINA" (with a Chinese translation below the text) were hung on several footbridges in Metro Manila, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of winning the Philippines on its arbitration case against China. The tarpaulins were seen as a possible reference to a "joke" made by Duterte that the country can be a province of the Asian giant, five months earlier. Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua slammed the banners, calling it a "vicious attack" on the "independent foreign policy" pursued by Duterte. Zhao also said that the Philippines "can never be any part of China." The Philippine National Police were investigating the person behind the tarpaulins, but the person was never known. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the banners were "absurd" and were made by "enemies" of the government. Opposition lawmakers Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate and Alliance of Concerned Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio denied that leftist groups were behind the tarpaulins. The state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping on November 19–21, 2018, triggered protests by militant groups, who called him to "go away" in Mandarin. The reason they held a protest was that the Philippines "sold" its territories to China. Ties with the United States The United States is one of the countries critical to Philippine drug war campaign, in which then-President Barack Obama and U.S. senators condemned and denounced the human rights abuses amid the campaign. Nevertheless, the United States Senate discussed the drug war in late 2016, noting the possibility that U.S. State Department assistance to the Philippines might be used to commit gross human rights violations. Regardless of the sitting U.S. president, most of the militant groups – particularly left-wing groups – aimed protests at the United States through placards and streamers denouncing "imperialism" and neoliberal policies, with Trump-Duterte effigies displayed on some occasions. Rights groups, activists, and