‘The Philippines is a fascist state in all but name only’ according to leading Philippines’ academic Professor Walden Bello speaking at the recent Philippines project conference, held at the Australian National University in February 2017. In the first 6 months of his rule, Duterte has committed repression on a grand scale. Duterte uses humour to distract criticism from the country’s elite, while carefully directing insults to international leaders to catapult the country onto the world stage. Duterte has apparently abrogated all pretence of conducting a war on drugs, instead, expanding his agenda to replace a fragile democratic system with his own form of authoritarian state.
It is evident that Duterte has shifted away from the principles of democracy. There have been over 6500 killings without legal redress (including an innocent foreign national). The Supreme Court now shies away from confrontation. The Philippines Human Rights Council self-censors its responses. Concurrently, the Philippines’ Congress is rushing through a death penalty bill despite accepting that the counter arguments from the International Commission of Jurists are more valid than those presented by the Philippines’ justice system. Members of Congress have been warned that there will be repercussions if they oppose the path of this bill, as it is a bill Duterte promised to the people.
There is no doubt the Philippines is suffering from drug problems and poverty, and yet the overall economy was actually in a good state when Duterte became the President. According to Philippines economist Professor Maria Gochoco-Bautista (as of May 2016, Duterte’s election win), the Philippine economy grew over 6% for 71 consecutive quarters. Manufacturing experienced double-digit growth. Unemployment, at 4.6%, fell from 5.4%. The service sector enjoyed stellar growth of over 7% year-on-year. Unfortunately the country still suffers from growing income inequality; and the primary agricultural sector has been gradually ‘crowded out’ as the service sector grew. To try to improve social outcomes, economists developed a ten-point economic agenda for ‘inclusive growth,’ including increased spending on infrastructure and greater wealth redistribution. In 2016, 21.6% of the country was classified as living in poverty. The plan is to lower this to 8% and lift ‘6 million Filipinos out of poverty by 2022’ (Bautista 2017).
The economic plan aims to spend 7% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year in order to achieve these ambitious goals, and to transition the economy away from the traditional agrarian industry towards the fast-growing service sector. According to Bautista, unfortunately, there is a ‘structural bottleneck to spending on infrastructure’ and the plan has been stalled in the parliament. At the same time, more draconian bills have been prioritised, which has affected the implementation of this GDP growth plan. Valuable foreign direct investment (FDI) is also under threat due to the indiscriminate killing of a Korean national in the war on drugs.
Another factor weakening the political structure has been the arbitrary arrest of Senators. A high-profile critic of Duterte, Senator Leila de Lima was arrested on charges she said were aimed at silencing her, but she reiterated her determination to keep fighting the “sociopathic serial killer” (AFP Manila 2017).
The usurping of parliament, congress, and the judiciary, and the silencing of elected officials are a serious threat to democracy in the Philippines. Duterte’s rule is of growing concern to observers of the Philippines and many share Bello’s view that Duterte’s reign is a blatant threat to democracy and the rule of law. The worrying question is whether martial law will return to the Philippines, a concept not seen since the disaster of the Marcos years.
Eric Masters is a PhD candidate in the Griffith University School of Government and International Relations (GIR). Eric recently attended a conference held at the Australian National University (ANU) Canberra entitled, ‘Beyond the rhetoric: Duterte’s first 6 months’ hosted by the Philippines Project ANU.
