The Duterte Phenomenon

I felt I had to share my views. The current President of the Republic of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has been making the news since he took office. The jury is out on this man, and might be for a long time. He is polarizing, both locally and internationally. Lots of people have voiced out their opinion for and against him. They have criticized and lauded the man for his looks, his attitude, his policies, his beliefs, his style. But what has been missing is the discussion of this man in the context of the most obvious factor – the Filipino people, and its psyche. I would dare to say that as important and central a figure Duterte is, he is not the force in play here. He will not be as effective, or as abhorrent depending on which side you are on, if this was another country, another people. This could only be in the Philippines.

Growing up, I took what I saw during my childhood, and indeed, my teenage years up to early adulthood, as the norm. I went through the Martial Law period as a young boy, then while in University, saw the ouster of the dictator, and in my adulthood, saw and started to understand the governments that succeeded Marcos. I remember the great legislators of the country, Joker Arroyo, Jovito Salonga, Rene Saguisag, etc. And I remember that great man nobody knew, Raul Roco. The proverbial best president we never had. I remember the slow but sure transition of the politics of the land, from great thinkers to great entertainers. There was a decay happening within, but as with all things, if it happens slowly and constantly, it becomes normal.

Before I saw the world, I only understood things based on what happens in my life and of the people around me. But I have read – books, magazines, newspapers. I took myself to different, faraway places. And on hindsight, I know that things in the Philippines did not happen overnight, but the signs were so clear. It was a decaying process, slow and steady. And deliberate. It might be the fact that the country has passed from one colonizer to the other, and an occupier in between. It might be an outside force, for surely, with the bright minds that abound, it couldn't have gone this wrong with the country. Marcos might have opened a can of worms with his iron fist rule, but who is to say if he had his reasons? One can only glean history from the little information that comes along. What is clear though, is that a few enterprising people even before Marcos saw the opportunity for patronage politics and how to benefit from it. Land grabbing, monopolies, taking advantage of other people, laying laws that do not take into consideration the poorest sectors. And continued during the Marcos years, and was full blown after the ouster. The masses of Filipinos have been hammered with the message that the feudal system IS the system, from the time of the Spaniards, to the Americans, and continued after the independence. Land owners gained more land, the Catholic Church became bigger, rich people became richer. Policies and laws were made by rich families for rich families. And the cycle continued.

So you have farmers tilling the land for land owners. You have fishermen, independent farmers, producing goods for traders dictating brutal prices. And the population kept increasing, driven by deliberate mis or uneducation. There are institutions who saw the advantage of keeping the masses poor, and of encouraging population growth. The servant mentality slowly moved towards getting employed as household help, as the jobs were far and few in between, and education a prized commodity. The middle class was not significant yet. It was an accepted fact that there will be rich people and poor people, and that the poor has to do what the rich wants. Education is the key to getting out of poverty, but there were few opportunities to study if you are poor.

And then something happened. Going to other countries suddenly became an option. It was most likely brought about by the lack of jobs at home, or the poor quality and meager salary available, but going abroad became a dream. And people held in awe people who managed to go abroad. And the people who managed to go abroad, came back with a bit more knowledge, and started looking at less fortunate Filipinos as lower people. And the squeeze came from the top, then the middle. The ugly head of the servant mentality was reared – I have suffered before, but I managed to better myself, so I deserve to treat lesser people the way I was treated. For the people left behind who couldn't go abroad, they had to find a way to get what the lucky overseas workers were having. Jealousy and dreams of a better life was a major driving force. The famous exodus, in my opinion, did not happen in the 70’s or 80’s. The real one happened in the late 90’s or early 2000. That is when I saw colleagues, friends, mostly university educated, scientists, doctors, teachers go abroad. The ouster of Marcos has unleashed a new kind of politics – one that relies on the inability of the people to protest against dictatorships, of the inability of people to resist easy favors, of the lack of jobs, of the booming population, of a great portion of that population to be poor.

And so mayors became dictators. Congressmen became dictators. Politicians became dictators. The servant mentality was being exploited. And because of the way Marcos empowered the military and the police, the crooked politicians used this to their advantage. The corrupt became more corrupt. The not so corrupt became corrupt. The military became more corrupt. Everybody wanted in on the action. Honest politicians were being eased out. And with the uncontrolled boom in population, it became clear that whoever becomes popular gets voted in. And whoever gets voted in gets the power. And whoever gets in power gets to enjoy the spoils of office. And because of the slave mentality, the politicians craved for absolute power. They don't want to be slaves anymore, but kings. And as kings, they dictate the terms.

And then entertainers became politicians.

And everyone saw that to become a politician means being powerful. And rich, and connected. As fractured as the more than seven thousand islands that make up the country, the Filipino society was fractured too. There was no pity for the poor, only disdain and opportunity. It is so ironic that the poorest sector of the country is the one feeding the greed, the corruption of the powers that be. Land owners using poor farmers to till their lands. The church raking in great amounts of money from the exploding population of uneducated masses, who were conditioned like zombies to not question the church. Politicians using these people to get the votes via false hopes, false compensation, false happiness. And the drug lords saw the greatest business opportunity of all time – masses and masses of bodies desperate to forget hunger, pain and suffering. A desperate but much easier way to earn money. These people were already under levels of despair unimaginable for other people to understand. They already have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. And the drug industry kept growing, feeding off the desperation, the hunger, the poverty. And that burning desire of the poor to taste what the well off has. And so the culture of impunity has become unstoppable.

This is what people unfamiliar with the Philippines need to understand. Whether Duterte is good or bad will be left to history. But what is undeniable is that he is the only reason why the culture of impunity has hit a roadblock. Here is a man who seemingly wants to bring changes that will empower the people, especially the poor. Educating the masses, for free, is a major major step. Keeping them healthy is another, again for free. Then providing them with a credible, realistic source of livelihood will complete the troika. If he succeeds, then he will go down in history as perhaps one of the greatest men to walk this earth. If he doesn’t, then the Philippines will, as it always has, remain fractured, broken. And that, should be the greatest cause for alarm to the world – that they should not, and could not allow another country to be destroyed and cause untold suffering. The Filipino people have suffered enough. Help us make it stop.

This piece was submitted to us by Richard Saldonido, a writer who maintains his own blog. To link to it, click image above.