tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/ferdinand-marcos-31821/articlesFerdinand Marcos – The Conversation2022-06-13T20:36:15Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1841052022-06-13T20:36:15Z2022-06-13T20:36:15ZWith Marcos Jr.’s election, Filipinos need to brace for a bleak future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468544/original/file-20220613-14-jm6fqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3860%2C2295&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the late dictator, gestures as he greets the crowd during a campaign rally in Quezon City, Philippines, in April 2022. He won the May election.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been elected the <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/ferdinand-marcos-jr-declared-philippines-president-20220525.html">17th president of the Philippines</a>, 36 years after his father, the known dictator and plunderer Ferdinand Sr., was ousted in <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/people-power-philippines-world-bright-spot-1986/">a peaceful revolution</a>. </p>
<p>Marcos Jr. won the presidency with 31 million votes, trouncing his closest rival, Vice-President Leonor “Leni” Robredo, who received 15 million votes.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men in cream-coloured clothing, one a teenaged boy, smile at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468538/original/file-20220613-18-4a8phb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ferdinand Marcos Sr. poses with his only son Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 1972 in Manila, Philippines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jess Tan Jr.)</span></span>
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<p><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/five-things-to-know-about-martial-law-in-the-philippines/">Ferdinand Marcos Sr. established martial law in the Philippines from 1972 to 1981</a>, a period of brutal repression with more than 11,000 <a href="https://hrvvmemcom.gov.ph/list-of-victims-recognized-motu-proprio/">documented human rights violations</a>. Critics of Marcos were imprisoned, tortured, raped and executed. His family and their cronies are thought <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2016/11/12/hail-to-the-thief">to have plundered about $10 billion</a>, and they evaded <a href="https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/specialreports/379847/infographic-the-hunt-for-the-marcos-ill-gotten-wealth/story/">legal claims for the Marcos family’s ill-gotten riches</a> in Philippine and foreign courts even after Marcos Sr.’s death in Hawaii in 1989.</p>
<p>Critics accuse the Marcos family of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/12/philippines-marcos-memory-election/">whitewashing their family’s crimes and martial law atrocities</a> through social media platforms. In a narrative of denial, Marcos Jr. promises to restore <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220508-golden-age-marcos-myths-on-philippine-social-media">the “Golden Age” of peace and prosperity</a> that his father had begun, raising questions about whether that means a future of martial law.</p>
<h2>Revisionist history</h2>
<p>The revisionist <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/705489">“narrative of nostalgia” has three parts, according to Filipino academic Victor Felipe Bautista</a>: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The supposed glorious past under a benevolent President Marcos;</p></li>
<li><p>The fall that interrupted the Marcos regime supposedly orchestrated by Corazon Aquino, the widow of Marcos’s political arch-rival, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08934219409367581">Benigno Aquino Jr., who was assassinated on the Manila airport tarmac</a> upon his return to the Philippines in 1983;</p></li>
<li><p>The dark present, when Marcos is said to be a “<a href="https://maharlika.tv/2022/04/12/fake-news-and-black-propaganda/">victim of black propaganda</a>,” meaning subtle propaganda <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2086855?origin=crossref">that does not come from the source it claims to come from</a>. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The Marcos Jr. propaganda operations include collective memory experts <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/why-do-filipinos-keep-voting-for-authoritarian-leaders/">who use revisionist nostalgia as a tool for steering public opinion</a>.</p>
<p>Critics suggest <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-27/marcos-return-triggers-panic-buying-of-philippine-history-books/101106564">massive and well-resourced efforts to change and control the narrative through historical revisionism</a> has been key to Marcos Jr.’s electoral victory. I complement this with a view that the Philippines’ colonial legacy equally influenced the results of the recent presidential election.</p>
<h2>Colonial class divides</h2>
<p>In many post-colonial societies, colonial powers and their elite, modern-day counterparts maintain class divides. Those divides allow them to control the masses as a steady source of extracted surplus and cheap labour and, for local politicians, a traditional source of votes.</p>
<p>Development in the Philippines has always been tied to colonial relations. <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-the-philippines/">Ties with the United States remained strong even after formal independence in 1946</a>, which is evident in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2756118">bilateral agreements</a> allowing American firms to own and operate public utilities and extract natural resources.</p>
<p>Post-colonial relations with the U.S. and development aid <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/return-marcoses-and-us-philippines-alliance">helped generate the fortunes of a Filipino landed oligarchy</a>, dispensed infrastructure and agricultural loans and provided military aid during the martial law years, setting the stage for the Marcos years <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/seeking-return-disputed-golden-age-philippine-voters-back-son-dictator-marcos-2022-05-06/">as the Golden Age in Philippine history</a>. </p>
<p>Returning from their exile in the 2000s, members of the Marcos family were elected to various <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/162459-timeline-marcos-political-comeback/">political positions</a>. Efforts to change the anti-Marcos narrative and alter the political culture in the Philippines via <a href="https://snuac.snu.ac.kr/2015_snuac/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/09-%EC%9E%90%EC%9C%A0%EC%A3%BC%EC%A0%9C273-304-5%EA%B5%903%EC%99%84%EC%99%84-20211231.pdf">the new technologies of social media</a> grew rampant. </p>
<p>Before long, photos of bridges, roads and buildings built by Marcos Sr. began to flood social media to suggest the Philippines was on par with emerging industrializing nations at the time of his administration. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/466152/original/file-20220531-16-pzmjlr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">From a Facebook page commemorating Ferdinand Marcos Sr.</span>
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<p>“If my father was allowed to pursue his plans, I believe that <a href="https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2011/02/23/659708/bongbong-we-could-have-been-singapore">we would be like Singapore now</a>,” said Marcos Jr. in 2011. </p>
<h2>Western appeal</h2>
<p>To young voters born after the martial law era — <a href="https://opinion.inquirer.net/149856/understanding-the-youth-vote">the country’s largest voter demographic</a> — Singapore evokes images of globalized progress: glitzy designer malls, savvy digital technology and western-style posh lifestyles that promote capitalist consumption. Young Filipino voters also seemed to delight in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuEgAUC-LFE">“cool” Marcos vibe of speaking with American accents</a> and stories of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTOjBlfyYq0">the privileges that come with wealth</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fuEgAUC-LFE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Marcos Jr.’s son speaks about improving his father’s style on the BongBongMarcos YouTube channel.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The Marcos messaging — also carefully curated in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/bongbongmarcos/videos">more than 200 BuzzFeed-style posh, familial and cheerful YouTube videos</a> — sought to temporarily bridge the traditionally sharp social divides in the Philippines. This served to momentarily placate centuries-old <a href="https://www.newuniversity.org/2022/01/13/the-effects-of-colonial-mentality-are-long-lasting-on-filipino-youths/">internalized local racism, self-othering and a deep-seated sense of colonial, racial and class inferiority</a> among Filipinos compared to westerners and their local wealthy counterparts, such as the Marcos family. </p>
<p>For a deeply class-stratified and colonized society, the Marcos propaganda machine has enhanced aspirations for western markers of progress and modernity.</p>
<p>But these efforts haven’t just been an attempt to whitewash the plunder of the Marcos family and the brutalities of martial law. </p>
<p>The propaganda also conjures up a vision of a neocolonial, modernized and consumption-driven future. In a nutshell, Marcos has escalated western aspirations and solidified the racialized and marginalized class identities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/14/a-history-world-seven-cheap-things-rak-patel-james-moore-review">that capitalism — an economic system organized around a minority class and its pursuit of profit</a> — is dependent upon.</p>
<p>Marcos Jr.’s references to a Golden Age in the Philippines invites a nostalgic look at the past. But it also warns of a darker future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bernadette P. Resurrección does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s references to a Golden Age in the Philippines invites a nostalgic look at the past. But it also warns of a darker future in keeping with how his father ran the country.Bernadette P. Resurrección, Associate Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830462022-05-24T10:37:53Z2022-05-24T10:37:53ZPhilippines: the challenges ahead for the new president Marcos<p>The prospects for the Philippines under newly elected president <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-05-14/philippines-election-a-powerful-machine-brought-bongbong-marcos-to-victory">Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos</a> have as much to do with a murky past as they do with modern challenges. Electing the son of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/09/ferdinand-marcos-jr-triumph-philippines-presidential-election">a former dictator</a> may make no sense to many on the outside, or to the many liberals inside the country who are now doing some deep reflection. But further cold hard truths lie ahead for the Philippines. </p>
<p>The crimes of members of the Marcos clan’s own very recent past still haven’t been fully accounted for. Ferdinand Marcos Snr fled the country following years of a dictatorship that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies">plundered an estimated US$10 billion</a> (£8 billion) of public funds. </p>
<p>There is also a <a href="https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2022/3/17/Marcos-fake-news-on-unpaid-estate-taxes.html">question mark</a> over the Marcos family’s unsettled estate tax liabilities.
A <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/marcos-jr-camp-still-evades-issue-unpaid-estate-tax/">1997 decision</a> of the supreme court had ordered the Marcoses to pay 23 billion pesos (£350 million) in <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/bir-pcgg-confirm-ongoing-estate-tax-collection-vs-marcoses/">estate tax</a>. Asked about the issue in the run-up to the election, Marcos Jnr dismissed this issue as “fake news”. “Let’s leave it to the lawyers to discuss it.” </p>
<p>But this is only the latest unresolved case against the Marcos clan. The family matriarch Imelda, Marcos Jnr’s mother, still has more than <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/240949-status-updates-rulings-court-cases-vs-marcos-family/">a dozen cases</a> pending against her after being found guilty of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/imelda-marcos-convicted-graft-sentenced-prison-n934356">seven counts of graft in 2018</a>. But nobody should seriously hope that these will come to any resolution or that Imelda will be held accountable for <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23555294">stealing obscene amounts</a> of the country’s wealth under her husband’s reign, something the family vehemently denies. </p>
<p>The shamelessness of the Marcos clan towards this reported plunder in a country that wrestles with crippling levels of poverty has been well covered recently in the media. Imelda was pictured at home with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/13/lost-picasso-spotted-in-imelda-marcos-home-after-son-bongbong-election-win">a Picasso on the wall</a>, despite it being one of many objects targeted for seizure by anti-corruption measures in 2014. An excellent investigative <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-election-marcos-fortune/">report by Reuters</a> published a week before the election laid bare the brazen way Marcos Jnr could prevent any further recoveries from the family.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-brutal-personal-costs-of-the-philippines-human-rights-abuses-100694">The brutal personal costs of the Philippines' human rights abuses</a>
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<p>The Philippines’ <a href="https://www.aseantoday.com/2017/02/philippine-judiciary-and-criminal-justice-system-under-pressure-an-inside-look/">bloated and archaic legal system</a> desperately needs reform, but no president is incentivised to do so when they can govern using it. Without true separation of the government from the judiciary, presidents – especially those with landslide victories – can rule and flout the rules. Under Marcos Jnr there is little to suggest any reform is incoming.</p>
<p>Sadly, the cronyism extends well beyond the justice system and into an economy in desperate need of revival following <a href="https://business.inquirer.net/297225/biggest-economic-decline-since-waning-years-of-marcos-regime-seen">crippling decline</a> under former president Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippines regularly ranks as one of the worst countries in the world for <a href="https://asianews.network/philippines-ranked-fourth-globally-in-crony-capitalism/">“crony capitalism”</a>, meaning it relies on a transactional relationship between government and powerful oligarchs who own and control much of the country’s economy. These are the same oligarchs that Duterte railed against and vowed to <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Crony-capital-How-Duterte-embraced-the-oligarchs">root out</a>. </p>
<h2>Economic issues</h2>
<p>Marcos Jnr also inherits a series of problems. For one thing, the nation’s economy relies too heavily on its army of overseas workers around the world sending back their remittances to support those at home. </p>
<p>In 2018, it was estimated that these remittances constituted 11% of the <a href="https://www.compareremit.com/money-transfer-guide/contribution-of-the-ofw-to-the-philippines-economy/#:%7E:text=OFWs%20are%20considered%20economic%20heroes%20of%20the%20country,the%20world%20that%20benefit%20the%20most%20from%20remittances.">country’s GDP</a>. Nurses, sailors, domestic workers and construction labourers, estimated to be around <a href="https://psa.gov.ph/content/total-number-ofws-estimated-22-million">2.2 million</a> worldwide, provide vital income to a nation falling behind others in the region. </p>
<p>Tourism has been massively hit as a result of the pandemic, and given the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/williampesek/2021/05/31/philippine-economy-is-a-mess-as-duterte-fiddles-on-covid-19/?sh=1d7d9bdcf96e">poor handling of COVID</a> by the outgoing Duterte administration, there is much to do to improve the state of domestic healthcare before international tourism can be rebuilt. </p>
<p>If that all wasn’t enough, the country still lacks critical infrastructure to be able to respond to the massive natural disasters that regularly besiege the country. Volcanic eruptions, super typhoons, landslides, earthquakes – all devastating in their own right – have all left behind a need for temporary housing, spiralling the country further into a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/natural-disasters-threaten-philippine-growth/a-17219526">development trap</a> it cannot climb out of. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://asianpoliticaldevelopment.wordpress.com/2018/03/28/are-natural-disasters-stopping-political-development-in-the-philippines/">research even suggests</a> that the corruption endemic in the politics of the Philippines is built on the country’s geographical challenges and mishandling of the response.</p>
<p>Perhaps most troubling is the prospect for a continuation of <a href="https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/119202/duterte-admin-bred-culture-hate-violence">a culture of violence</a> normalised under Duterte. Marcos Jnr and his vice president – Duterte’s daughter Sara – are set to continue, if not build upon, the security state that enables attacks on <a href="https://www.onenews.ph/articles/philippines-still-among-deadliest-countries-for-journalists">journalists</a> and leaves extrajudicial <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/philippines">killings</a> uninvestigated.</p>
<p>Unabashed <a href="https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/11/02/1865212/duterte-admits-militarization-government">militarisation</a> under Duterte is seemingly Marcos Jnr and Sara Duterte’s principal policy issue. They plan to make <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/sara-duterte-wants-mandatory-military-service-adult-filipinos/">military service mandatory</a> for all adults and make the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps mandatory in college programmes, for which they face opposition from student <a href="https://mb.com.ph/2022/01/23/sara-dutertes-mandatory-military-service-proposal-unnecessary-students-group/">groups</a>.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/communists-congress-03302022130916.html">communist</a> and <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3176373/what-challenges-will-next-philippine-leader-face-militant-hotbed">Islamist</a> insurgencies continue to threaten the country, further militarisation, building on Duterte’s war on drugs and use of the military in various <a href="https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1815070/manila/local-news/special-report-a-lsquomilitarizedrsquo-government">arms of government</a>, is risky. </p>
<p>These long-running insurgencies stem from deep social and political grievances – many legitimate – with the state. And increased violence at the hands of an expanded military is unlikely to deal with the root causes of the conflict. Duterte’s military demolished the city of Marawi in 2017 when it was drawn into a siege by local clans claiming to be <a href="https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/exporting-global-jihad-critical-perspectives-from-asia-and-north-america/mujahideen-in-marawi">Islamic State affiliates</a>, and have not bothered to rebuild it – leaving thousands <a href="https://opinion.inquirer.net/152736/rebuilding-marawi">displaced and resentful</a>. </p>
<p>Marcos Jnr has much to reform and rebuild. The electorate will support him for six to 12 months as they do all their new leaders. Capitalising on this wave of support with bold new measures to rebuild sorely needed robust infrastructure and trust in institutions will be needed for the next Marcos to take the throne in another 35 years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183046/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newly elected Philippines president Bongbong Marcos faces huge challenges, and a backdrop of his father’s dictatorship.Tom Smith, Principal Lecturer in International Relations & Academic Director of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825032022-05-11T17:42:13Z2022-05-11T17:42:13ZA member of the Marcos family is returning to power – here’s what it means for democracy in the Philippines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462327/original/file-20220510-18-1j774w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C341%2C5982%2C3646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Politics is the Marcos family business.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ferdinand-bongbong-marcos-jr-and-his-family-take-part-in-news-photo/1395951494?adppopup=true">Ezra Acayan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some 36 years after the <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/people-power-philippines-world-bright-spot-1986/">People Power Revolution</a> restored democracy to the Philippines, a member of perhaps the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/08/why-late-philippine-dictator-was-no-hero#">most brutal</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61212659">and corrupt</a> political dynasties in the nation’s memory is set to return to the Philippine presidency. </p>
<p>Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/10/philippines-presidential-election-result-ferdinand-bongbong-marcos/">has won the presidential election</a>, according to preliminary results. It will return him to the Malacañang Palace where he lived as a child and from which his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/26/world/marcos-flees-and-is-taken-to-guam-us-recognizes-aquino-as-president.html">parents fled in 1986</a>. His running mate, Sara Duterte, the daughter of current President Rodrigo Duterte, is also <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Philippine-elections/Philippine-presidential-election-How-the-night-unfolded">set to win the vice presidency</a> by a landslide.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ferdinand Marcos, dressed in white traditional Philippine shirt, raises his hand and speaks into a microphone to supporters; beside him in a green jumpsuit is his son, Bongbong." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462323/original/file-20220510-26-r56oh0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Like father, like son?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/philippine-president-ferdinand-marcos-waves-goodbye-to-news-photo/1337631331?adppopup=true">Alex Bowie/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Both candidates hail from political dynasties with long histories of abuses of power. The human rights offenses of the first Marcos regime, from 1965 to 1986, are well documented, involving an estimated <a href="https://www.manilatimes.net/2016/04/12/featured-columns/columnists/3257-fact-checking-the-marcos-killings-1975-1985/255735">3,257 deaths</a> and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/04/five-things-to-know-about-martial-law-in-the-philippines/">over 50,000 victims who were tortured and detained</a> during the martial law period alone. Also well documented is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies">estimated US$10 billion Marcos plundered</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the outgoing Duterte administration is notorious for its <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-brutal-personal-costs-of-the-philippines-human-rights-abuses-100694">so-called “war on drugs</a>,” during which his infamous death squads killed more than <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-duterte-says-will-never-apologise-drug-war-deaths-2022-01-04/">6,200 as of 2022</a>.</p>
<p>The election has been mired in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/02/1090474739/philippines-presidential-election-resurfaces-old-scandal">tax scandals</a>, <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/25/philippines-election-corruption-bongbong-marcos/">bureaucratic corruption</a> and <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Philippine-elections/Philippine-activists-warn-of-voting-anomalies-ahead-of-election">voter suppression</a>.</p>
<p>But despite these scandals both past and present, dynastic families remain in full force in the Southeast Asian archipelago. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/ase/faculty_display.cfm?person_id=1091464">scholar of Philippine history</a>, I know this “rule by dynasty” dates from the days of American colonial rule. But it has been enhanced by a more modern curse: media manipulation and disinformation.</p>
<h2>The political economy of dynasties</h2>
<p>The tenacity of political dynasties of all political orientations to outlast the Philippines’ halted revolutions – both <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-35526200">in 1986</a> and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/05/world/people-power-ii-doesn-t-give-filipinos-the-same-glow.html">later uprising in 2001</a> – shows that popular mobilization did not lead to a more democratic government.</p>
<p>The late <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/asia/benedict-anderson-scholar-who-saw-nations-as-imagined-dies-at-79.html">political scientist Benedict Anderson</a> famously called the Philippines a “<a href="https://newleftreview.org/issues/i169/articles/benedict-anderson-cacique-democracy-and-the-philippines-origins-and-dreams">cacique democracy</a>” – a fusion of popular electoral power and feudal, dynastic rule.</p>
<p>While landowning elites existed during the 19th century, this “cacique democracy” – cacique referring to local political bosses in Latin American countries – developed during the American colonial rule of the Philippines <a href="https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/the-philippines-an-overview-of-the-colonial-era/">between 1898 and 1942</a>. The aim was to cultivate an Indigenous leadership that could collaborate with American colonial rule.</p>
<p>To establish loyal allies among the local population,<a href="https://newleftreview.org/issues/i169/articles/benedict-anderson-cacique-democracy-and-the-philippines-origins-and-dreams"> the U.S. expropriated 400,000 acres</a> owned by the Catholic Church between 1898 and 1941 and auctioned it to landowners and economic elites. These same leaders, bolstered by their consolidated agricultural economic base, formed a new political class in Manila, as they participated in the new legislature of the colony.</p>
<p>With their wealth and political influence strengthened under American occupation, these ruling families held disproportionate sway over the development of the fledgling nation <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/philippine-independence-declared">following independence in 1946</a>.</p>
<p>These “caciques,” or native feudal lords, went on to become the ruling class of today. The Marcos family is descended from regional landowners in Ilocos Norte, in the north of Luzon, the Philippines’ most populous island. But unlike his forebears, Ferdinand Marcos Sr. rose from regional leader to national prominence, first as the president of the Philippine Senate in 1959, then as national president in 1965. Through his own charisma – and the popularity of his wife, Imelda Romualdez Marcos – the family consolidated their political base.</p>
<p>At the opposite end of the political spectrum <a href="https://www.ranker.com/list/members-of-the-aquino-family/reference">are the Aquino family</a>, hailing from a clan of elite landowners in Central Luzon, whose patriarch was one of the original members of the republican government formed after the 1896 Philippine Revolution. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., a senator and outspoken Marcos critic, was <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/143594-look-back-ninoy-aquino-assassination/">assassinated in 1983</a>. His wife, Corazon Aquino, was elected on the back of the mass fervor of the 1986 Revolution, and later their son reached the presidency.</p>
<p>Dynasties have long dominated Philippines politics. But the fact that the Marcos name not only survived the overthrow of its patriarch but managed to become rehabilitated in the following decades hints at the tenacity of dynastic politics in the Philippines.</p>
<h2>Media and disinformation</h2>
<p>Despotic power cannot be shored up by birthright claims alone. So it is no coincidence that the return of the Marcos family has coincided with large-scale attacks against journalism, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/01/17/578610243/a-fraught-time-for-press-freedom-in-the-philippines">waged by the national executive and its allies</a>.</p>
<p>In 2022, the Philippines was <a href="https://rsf.org/en/index">ranked by Reporters Without Borders</a> 147th out of 180 countries for press freedom. This is a stark contrast to the period before the election of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1965, when <a href="https://cpj.org/reports/2005/08/neumann-sidebar/">the country’s press was considered the most free in Asia</a>.</p>
<p>During the six years of Duterte’s rule since 2016, the president developed a reputation as someone who used social media disinformation – especially via Facebook – to cultivate support for his brutal “war on drugs.” At the same time he frequently attacked the work of journalists and critics of his regime.</p>
<p>Duterte made a deliberate attempt to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/09/rodrigo-dutertes-war-press-freedom-maria-ressa-truth">undermine the free press</a>. In December 2020, after months of systematic targeting by President Duterte, the Philippine Congress <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/world/asia/philippines-congress-media-duterte-abs-cbn.html">voted to shut down ABS-CBN</a> – the country’s largest broadcasting network. </p>
<p>The Philippines remains one of the most dangerous places for reporters. As recently as December 2021, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/10/killing-journalist-criminal-libel-philippines">journalist Jesus Malabanan was shot by gunmen in his own home</a>. Malabanan, a well-respected reporter who worked on Reuters’ coverage of the Philippine drug war, was the 22nd journalist murdered during the Duterte regime.</p>
<p>The weakening and intimidation of independent journalism and media paved the way for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/business/philippines-election-disinformation.html">disinformation to flourish</a>. </p>
<p>Bongbong Marcos’ presidential run has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/business/philippines-election-disinformation.html">widely criticized for media manipulation</a>. And disinformation has been central to the shift in public opinion toward the family.</p>
<p>In 2019, Rappler, the independent news website founded by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa, ran <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/245290-marcos-networked-propaganda-social-media/">a three-part investigation</a> that revealed the extent to which Marcos deployed digital propaganda to propel himself into public favor through the use of disinformation spread on other social media platforms, and through various fan pages and other viral content. The first Marcos regime was recast in misleading propaganda that portrayed the era <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/245540-networked-propaganda-false-narratives-from-the-marcos-arsenal/">as a time of progress</a> while denying its human rights abuses.</p>
<p>And in 2020, <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/bongbong-marcos-cambridge-analytica-rebrand-family-image/">Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Barbara Kaiser alleged that Marcos had reached out to the firm</a> – known for its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html">harvesting of Facebook users’ data</a> for political campaigns – in an effort to further bolster his family’s image. The Marcos campaign denies this connection.</p>
<h2>Never again?</h2>
<p>The election of Bongbong Marcos comes close to 50 years after his father declared martial law, on Sept. 23, 1972.</p>
<p>That original Marcos era – with its extrajudicial killings and rampant corruption – has been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-05/bongbong-marcos-philippines-election-social-media/101035620">subjected to revisionism</a>, with many Filipinos looking back at the Marcos years as a time of stability and growth while ignoring the abuses. The $10 billion plundered by the Marcoses – which once dominated headlines – gets talked about less. Imelda Marcos, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/06/opinions/philippines-election-marcos-bongbong-imelda-andelman/index.html">herself a notorious kleptocrat</a>, has been transformed into an object of fascination.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protesters gather holding signs saying 'Never Again to Martial Law.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462320/original/file-20220510-14-3sexqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-Marcos and -Duterte protesters hold a vigil in Manila, Philippines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/anti-marcos-and-duterte-protesters-hold-a-vigil-in-liwasan-news-photo/1396462191?adppopup=true">Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile the voices of survivors of the martial law era and the activists who oppose authoritarian rule have grown less effective in the face of President Duterte’s popularity. Their message of “never again” failed to disrupt the Marcos family return to power. </p>
<p>In 2018, on the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, Imee Marcos – Bongbong’s sister – stated that “the millennials have moved on [from Ferdinand Marcos’ history], and I think people at my age should move on as well.” </p>
<p>The electoral victory of her brother seems to have have proved Imee Marcos correct.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian De Leon receives funding from the Fulbright Commission and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Bongbong Marcos is the projected winner of the Philippines election. That the son of a brutal dictator has won shows how wedded the country is to dynastic politics – and image manipulation.Adrian De Leon, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1824772022-05-05T14:55:17Z2022-05-05T14:55:17ZPhilippines election: how the Marcos clan might be heading back to power<p>The upcoming election in the Philippines presents the country with a stark choice to set its political course for the next six years. Outgoing authoritarian president <a href="https://theconversation.com/rodrigo-dutertes-first-year-a-human-rights-disaster-the-world-prefers-to-ignore-80442">Rodrigo Duterte</a> leaves behind a country much damaged by his time in office. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ibon.org/duterte-govt-to-blame-for-worst-economic-collapse-in-ph-history/#:%7E:text=The%20Duterte%20administration%20is%20to%20blame%20for%20the,year%20is%20an%20unprecedented%2021.9%20percentage%20point%20drop.">Economic decline</a>, a brutal “war on drugs” – for which he faces an International Criminal Court <a href="https://theconversation.com/rodrigo-duterte-why-the-iccs-investigation-will-not-guarantee-a-fairer-or-safer-philippines-163089">investigation</a> – and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/why-the-philippines-just-became-the-worst-place-to-be-in-covid">bad management of COVID</a> have set a low bar for his successor. </p>
<p>This is all handy for the frontrunner for the May 9 poll – <a href="https://theconversation.com/philippines-bongbong-marcos-son-of-reviled-dictator-ferdinand-runs-in-what-could-be-a-race-of-two-dynasties-in-2022-election-169973">Bongbong Marcos</a>, the son of former dictator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ferdinand-E-Marcos">Ferdinand Marcos</a> (1965-86). Bongbong leads the polls by a considerable margin and has done so for months. This is despite a rather contemptuous attitude towards the electorate in his campaign. He has <a href="https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/830504/focap-concerned-over-difficulty-accessing-bongbong-marcos-his-supporters-attack-on-journos/story/">avoided interviews</a>, not shown up to debates with <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3169252/philippine-election-why-front-runner-bongbong-marcos-jnr-so-hands">other candidates</a> and even avoided contact with the public after a bizarre incident claiming an injury but having the <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/ferdinand-bongbong-marcos-jr-camp-response-which-wrist-wounded/">wrong wrist bandaged</a>.</p>
<p>Bongbong is relying on two forces to carry him to the presidential palace, neither of which are new or of his doing, but the old ways may well be enough for him.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-philippines-passes-the-2-million-mark-as-covid-19-cases-surge-in-southeast-asia-167186">The Philippines passes the 2 million mark as COVID-19 cases surge in Southeast Asia</a>
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<p>The first is a political system still based on patronage. Presidents and vice-presidents are elected on separate ballots but every candidate sits among a pyramid of others running for positions in the political hierarchy, from senators, governors and mayors all the way down to the most local of representatives – the <a href="https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/64042/cebu-city-councilors-barangay-captains-meet-with-bongbong-marcos">barangay captain</a>. There are over 42 thousand barangays (small administrative districts) in the Philippines, and most captains will negotiate support for a presidential candidate and bring the votes of their village with them.</p>
<p>The second is the Marcos family brand and its amazing ability to outlast decades of scandals. Their alliances among the elite and other clans run deep in the Philippines. Bongbong’s notable endorsement has come from a rogue’s gallery of former presidents. Former film actor Joseph Estrada, president from 1998 to 2001, was forced to resign following corruption and impeachment charges. <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/gloria-arroyo-spends-birthday-marcos-jr-tycoons-2022/">Gloria Arroyo</a> (president from 2001 to 2010) who would go on to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/world/asia/25iht-manila.1.8049757.html">pardon Estrada</a>, had her prosecution for plundering 369 million pesos (£5.6 million) dropped under the Duterte’s administration. As part of her political rehabilitation, she spearheaded his administration’s attempts to lower the age of <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/221357-arroyo-supports-proposal-lower-age-criminal-responsibility/">criminal liability to nine</a>. Yes – nine years of age.</p>
<p>The only campaign issue Bongbong seems interested in is defending those under investigation for charges of stealing Philippine pesos 183 million (£2.8 million) – notably Estrada’s <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/bongbong-marcos-campaigns-jinggoy-estrada-senate-race-2022/">son Jinggoy</a>. The legacy of covering for the last crony looks to be the playbook here with Sara Duterte allied to Bongbong in her quest to become vice-president to continue her father’s <a href="https://mb.com.ph/2022/02/22/mayor-sara-highlights-dads-effective-war-on-crime-drugs/">political legacy</a> and protect him from any <a href="https://verafiles.org/articles/pres-sara-2022-dutertes-insurance-icc-arrest-when-he-no-long">possible accountability</a> for his time in office. </p>
<p>Marcos and friends get away with this through concerted efforts to police online criticism and are effective in <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/stories-tracking-marcos-disinformation-propaganda-machinery/">disinformation campaigns</a>. They also rely on the tried and tested method of vote-buying. A practice <a href="https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/05/14/1917698/vote-buying-integral-part-philippine-elections-duterte">Duterte defended</a> in his own midterm elections. </p>
<p>The only realistic alternative to business as usual comes in the form of Leni Robredo, who is a distant second in the polls. She is the sitting vice-president and a liberal thorn in Duterte’s side, though vice-presidents wield little power. Robredo’s campaign has seen <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/world/asia/philippines-election-marcos-robredo.html">large crowds</a> at rallies across the country and suggests <a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-elections-campaigns-presidential-philippines-2a311393fa1f492835ce20b2031bf36d">grassroots support</a> and momentum can be mobilised. </p>
<p>Robredo has found support from prominent <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/spotlight/10/08/21/40-more-celebs-artists-express-support-for-leni-run">Filipino media personalities</a>, many conscious that the media <a href="https://theconversation.com/philippines-dictator-duterte-turns-on-the-media-that-helped-elect-him-90149">clampdown under Duterte</a> could continue under Marcos. Similarly, Robredo has found <a href="https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/75836/ngos-campaign-for-leni">support from local NGOs</a> and this may circumvent some of the traditional dynastic power structures in the Philippines. </p>
<p>Robredo has a mountain to climb – according to the polls – which are <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1562971/survey-says-not-all-pre-election-polls-are-reliable">far from reliable</a> in the Philippines. Overturning decades of institutional and cultural political practice on May 9 would be a truly massive achievement. Not least because the final days of election campaigns of often the most violent.</p>
<p>Election violence in the Philippines is a perennial problem. My research, published in the journal <a href="https://pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/articles/understanding-election-violence-in-the-philippines-beware-the-unknown-assassins-of-may/">Pacific Affairs</a>, shows the phenomenon is getting worse. Government measures, including a gun ban and the use of police checkpoints, have not been successful. </p>
<p>On Monday the Philippine National Police had acknowledged 52 reported incidents of <a href="https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/830366/52-election-related-violence-incidents-reported-ahead-of-2022-elections-pnp/story/">election-related violence</a>. Hotspots across the nation have been <a href="https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/829783/marawi-city-towns-in-maguindanao-lanao-del-sur-placed-under-comelec-control/story/">identified</a> that will be heavily policed, not least <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/more-violence-threats-reported-vs-politicians-in-cebu-city/">Cebu</a>, the country’s second-largest city. The threat of election-related violence is most pronounced for candidates, campaigners and journalists. </p>
<p>On April 19, presidential candidate Leody de Guzman was <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/gunshots-fired-bukidnon-activity-leody-de-guzman/">shot at</a> in an apparent assassination attempt. The spectre of violence over the final weekend of campaigning and as the results are confirmed is very real. In 2009, 58 people, including 32 journalists covering an electoral event, were butchered and <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/years-after-maguindanao-massacre-2021-forgetting-not-an-option/">buried by the road</a> when their convoy was attacked by the local Ampatuan clan in Maguindanao, part of the autonomous region of Mindanao.</p>
<p>It is this sort of recent past, along with those who still bear the scars of Ferdinand Marcos’s years of torture (estimated <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa35/019/1977/en/">by Amnesty International</a> and <a href="https://www.manilatimes.net/2016/04/12/featured-columns/columnists/3257-fact-checking-the-marcos-killings-1975-1985/255735">others</a> as 3,257 killed, tortured 35,000 and imprisoned 70,000), that means the wrong electoral choice could have very serious consequences for the remaining Filipino democratic institutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The son of former Filipino dictator is leading the polls as the country approaches a national election.Tom Smith, Principal Lecturer in International Relations & Academic Director of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1699732021-10-14T15:12:15Z2021-10-14T15:12:15ZPhilippines: ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, son of reviled dictator Ferdinand, runs in what could be a race of two dynasties in 2022 election<p>There are still more than six months to go before the next Philippines election in May 2022, but the horse-trading and behind-the-scenes machinations are <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/09/asia/philippines-election-president-duterte-marcos-dst-intl-hnk/index.html">hotting up</a>. Incumbent president, the right-wing strongman Rodrigo Duterte, is banned by the constitution from standing for the presidency again next year – he did consider the vice-presidency before announcing his retirement from politics on October 2 – but the list of nine official candidates includes some interesting personalities, not least the retired boxing superstar <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/19/boxing-legend-manny-pacquiao-to-run-for-president-of-philippines">Manny Pacquiao</a>. </p>
<p>But it’s the candidacy of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr – son of Ferdinand Marcos Snr – that has attracted the most recent attention. The simple fact of his candidacy being taken seriously, despite the memory of his late father, is an indication of how far the country has come since the reviled dictator was ousted in a popular revolution in 1986 and fled to the US allegedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies">carrying billions of dollars from the national treasury</a>.</p>
<p>Bongbong is <a href="http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/senators/sen_bio/bmarcos_bio41315.asp">no stranger to politics</a>, having been appointed as vice-governor of the northern province of Ilcos Norte in 1980, aged 23, during the later and most troubling period of his father’s rule. After Marcos Snr died in exile in 1989, the sitting president, Corazon Aquino, allowed the other members of his family to return to the Philippines, <a href="https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/timeline-marcos-political-comeback">with Imelda Marcos facing more than 60 criminal and civil charges</a>, including corruption and tax evasion. Despite this shadow having over the family, by 1992 Bongbong was elected as a representative for Ilcos Norte and served as governor from 1998. In 2010, he was elected senator for the Nacionalista Party. </p>
<p>In 2016 he attempted to become vice president, losing to the incumbent, Leni Robredo, by just 0.64% of the votes cast, a result he <a href="https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/7/2/Robredo-Marcos-Vice-President-poll-protest-bitter-pill-defeat.html">bitterly contested</a>. Now, after five years of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpJMKEFDt7c">cosying up to Duterte</a>, he is attempting to succeed in the race for the top job.</p>
<h2>Sins of the father</h2>
<p>For a generation of Filipinos, the memories of martial law, declared by Ferdinand Snr in 1972, are still raw. This moment ushered in an era of repression which eventually led to his ousting. But this instinctively visceral reaction to the Marcos name is <a href="https://globalnation.inquirer.net/49932/to-young-filipinos-who-never-knew-martial-law-and-dictatorship">not shared by many younger Filipinos</a>. This is an important factor to weigh up when thinking about the 2022 election – in a country with a <a href="https://knoema.com/atlas/Philippines/topics/Demographics/Age/Population-aged-15-24-years">median age of under 26</a>, those bad memories may not count for a great deal at the polling booths.</p>
<p>This is not to say that living victims of Ferdinand Snr’s reign of torture will not be heard – at least one survivor has <a href="https://www.straight.com/news/filipino-canadian-torture-survivor-outraged-with-presidential-bid-by-scion-of-ex-philippine?fbclid=IwAR3cUDHtBju2vnz6AF9DTHDuHXXKdvOvUx6lntPwZjF3ucNGWKPTLueAStU">spoken out</a> about his treatment at the hands of the military in 1982. Ultimately, he is unlikely to completely escape his father’s long shadow – and the signs are that he will <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/10/son-of-the-philippine-dictator-marcos-announces-presidential-campaign/">embrace the family brand</a>. This is sure to stoke <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ferdinand-marcos-philippines-manila-election-2020-rodrigo-duterte-748daff9c565f1ee84234e682b36bf1b">protests</a> even further as electioneering ramps up.</p>
<p>If he does play to the electorate’s desire for a strong leader, Bongbong will hardly be reinventing the political wheel in the Philippines. Duterte himself was carrying an awful lot of murky baggage when he leapt from mayor of Davao City in the deep south to win the presidency six years ago. This was a candidate that both <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/434243/davao-death-squad-strikes-again">Amnesty International</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/04/06/you-can-die-any-time/death-squad-killings-mindanao">Human Rights Watch</a> documented as having run death squads. </p>
<p>The UN general assembly <a href="https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/11session/A.HRC.11.2.Add.8.pdf">had discussed</a> Duterte’s Davao Death Squads (known now as the DDS) as far back as 2009, yet none of this prevented him attracting 39% of the vote in 2016 – to ensure him the presidency. In fact, this notoriety was part of the image he built to win power.</p>
<p>Duterte’s victory offers something of a template for Bongbong in other ways too. Duterte successfully <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-07/how-rodrigo-duterte-turned-facebook-into-a-weapon-with-a-little-help-from-facebook">weaponised Facebook</a> and the role social media is already playing in retelling the <a href="https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/analysis-consequences-distorting-marcos-legacy-youtube?fbclid=IwAR2yS1QczJiepNjtphKDkH_sMEC8HMEzaDKpJxSJqQNxp1ksuQbpaGkTbYo">Marcos dictatorship on YouTube</a> for a new generation is already coming into question.</p>
<h2>Placeholders and stalking horses</h2>
<p>It’s early days yet to accurately assess his chance of victory – the roster of candidates still feels far from final more than six months out from the election. Many suspect Duterte’s daughter Sara could enter the race late as a replacement for a <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/waiting-sara-duterte-lakas-cmd-fields-placeholder-for-president-2022?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3_Knbeh6GJXCVQhdKUJ2T5Q3Pb8VhhSijeV8qjC6KPRe_eg9BWK2sEBH0#Echobox=1633951821">Anna Capela Velasco</a>, who many believe has been nominated as a placeholder for the 43-year-old current mayor of Davao. Things will become clearer by November 15, which is the deadline for <a href="https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1499602/will-sara-duterte-be-a-substitute-candidate-everything-is-possible-says-bato">substitute candidates</a>. </p>
<p>Another candidate, <a href="https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/10/08/2132732/bato-dela-rosa-former-drug-war-chief-implementer-admins-presidential-bet">Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa</a>, has also been identified as a possible placeholder for Sara. Dela Rosa <a href="https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2021/10/08/2132732/bato-dela-rosa-former-drug-war-chief-implementer-admins-presidential-bet">was promoted by Duterte</a> from his post as a provincial police chief in Davao to the national police chief and his point man on the drug war. He was nominated <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/elections/bato-dela-rosa-presidency-coc-filing-two-hours-before-deadline">two hours before the October 8 deadline</a> – and his own surprise at being put forward is an indication of the level of game playing going on before the campaign proper has even got underway.</p>
<h2>A Duterte-Marcos alliance</h2>
<p>There has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/05/son-of-ex-dictator-ferdinand-marcos-to-run-for-philippines-president">much discussion</a> of a Duterte-Marcos, or Marcos-Duterte alliance. Duterte authorised a hero’s burial for the former dictator’s remains and the families have a <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/bongbong-marcos-will-continue-drug-war-shield-from-international-criminal-court">long political relationship</a>, going back to the 1960s.</p>
<p>Bongbong has already indicated that Duterte’s drug war – which has resulted in the deaths of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/world/asia/philippines-duterte-icc-hague.html">at least 8,000</a> people since 2016 – <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/bongbong-marcos-will-continue-drug-war-shield-from-international-criminal-court">would continue</a> on his watch and he said he would shield any suspects from the International Criminal Court investigation into crimes against humanity committed by the Duterte regime which was <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/78354/icc-investigation-of-philippines-president-duterte-sends-important-signals/">formally authorised in September</a>.</p>
<p>In essence, Bongbong is so far openly positioning himself as a continuity candidate, adopting the same policies and methods as Duterte and owning the Marcos family name. So at least in this regard, voters will know plenty about who they intend to vote for – or against.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169973/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2022 Philippines presidential election could be a battle between, or an alliance of, two controversial political dynasties.Tom Smith, Principal Lecturer in International Relations & Academic Director of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1380252020-05-07T14:03:32Z2020-05-07T14:03:32ZPhilippines: Rodrigo Duterte’s dictatorship sinks to new depths with closure of main broadcaster<p>After just four years in power, Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has turned his country into a deadly dictatorship one again. Now the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-52548703">closure</a> of the country’s major mainstream news platform ABS-CBN on May 5 in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic has struck deep historical chords in a country that has heard this sorry song before. </p>
<p>The broadcaster was <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/manila-times/20160413/281676844072164">ordered off air</a> by the country’s media regulator, which said its licence had expired and needed to be renewed by Congress. But Duterte has had an ongoing battle with the independent ABS-CBN and the move was seen as a clear attack on media freedom.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1257640299267936256"}"></div></p>
<p>The regime of former Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos also closed the broadcaster <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/06/20/abs-cbn-closure-not-a-repeat-of-1972-shutdown-panelo">down in 1972</a> when it imposed martial law. Marcos’s regime <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/manila-times/20160413/281676844072164">murdered</a>, disappeared and tortured its own people with impunity. Assassinations plagued public life at every level – and there were 3,257 officially documented killings. </p>
<p>Now Duterte’s death squads put the Marcos years into a chilling context. Some estimate at least <a href="https://www.philstar.com/nation/2019/03/06/1898959/29000-deaths-probed-drug-war-launched">29,000 people</a> have been killed in Duterte’s so-called drug war.</p>
<p>The current extent of the alleged <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320469543_Is_the_Philippine_War_on_Drugs_an_Act_of_Genocide">genocide</a> is hard to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50236481">know</a> and will be even harder without ABS-CBN. Investigative journalism and accurate reporting are practically impossible. Journalists are regularly <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/philippines/report-philippines/">assassinated</a> along with lawyers and human rights workers. Families and society are bereft of justice and accountability. The Philippines has become increasingly perilous for many citizens and an understandable <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/philippines#1ff4dc">fear</a> of retribution silences many in 2020 despite all the communication tools available. </p>
<p>The timing of the ABS-CBN shutdown could not be worse. Filipinos desperately need their largest broadcaster – the oldest in south-east Asia – for reliable information about COVID-19. Anti-vaxxer conspiracies around dengue fever and <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/07/19/measles-outbreaks-declared-in-more-luzon-visayas-areas">measles</a> vaccinations have caused recent tragic <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/dengue-vaccine-philippines-outbreak">outbreaks</a> of both diseases in the Philippines. And yet Duterte’s brand of “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30553118">medical populism</a>” has spread misinformation, claiming people can rely on <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-update-duterte-claims-filipino-antibodies-can-prevent-covid-19-2920675">fictional “Filipino antibodies”</a> to fight COVID-19.</p>
<h2>Few checks on power remain</h2>
<p>The velocity of Duterte’s reign of death and abuse has caught <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0169796X16654594?casa_token=jSWw1USroOAAAAAA%3AgZgebYkM7PIF4k8Xf-w_z4o-Hs7Q3HinsI8Bl4DKOwex1eL7xYgiDAhf0ZuPV8PLbSiZX-qq7Kv7-Q">weak institutions</a> and opponents unprepared. His populist electoral victory can in no way excuse the atrocities and yet Duterte’s chauvinistic style and cavalier actions still remain politically <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-27/duterte-takes-on-philippine-elite-and-ends-up-even-more-popular">popular</a>. </p>
<p>His hashtag friendly campaign title Du30 has become a powerful brand – if not now a violent and well-connected <a href="https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/AD1062042">clan</a>. Du30-ism is undeniably a cultural and political juggernaut that shows very few signs of abating, or being met by an emerging counter-force. Duterte now controls every aspect of public administration and there are no checks and balances to his power. The fourth estate is now severely – if not mortally – disabled and Du30’s power absolute, for now. </p>
<p>Duterte’s power over the security forces is based on an old and unsubtle <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Julio_Teehankee/publication/313359654_Clientelism_and_Party_Politics_in_the_Philippines/links/58974d1faca2721f0dae1142/Clientelism-and-Party-Politics-in-the-Philippines.pdf">system of patronage</a> normally employed by local clans, mayors and alike. Now that the provincial “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0it4S_WGapIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=big+bossism&ots=1p7SifHOEl&sig=PrHeLySibobjuS1_Rj0WbvXl90o#v=onepage&q=big%20bossism&f=false">big boss</a>” is resident in the presidential palace in Manila, he has a vast network of people in every institution in the country in his debt. The military has been overtly politicised and, conversely, politics and culture have become increasingly militarised. </p>
<p>Duterte enables both masked assassins on the back of motorbikes, and killers in <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/07/19/learn-art-of-assassination-duterte-tells-police-military">uniform</a>. Just as with Marcos, it will take decades to repair public trust and legitimacy in the security services.</p>
<h2>‘Big Bossism’ reigns</h2>
<p>Politicisation of supposedly independent judicial and legislative branches of government is all but confirmed with the shutdown of ABS-CBN. Duterte’s appointees <a href="https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/12/4/new-supreme-court-justices.html?fbclid=IwAR3lrLTGhflXLrn5SyrDDPl836_agVnCkYQxjDp5SYCdnUXxh68RZCmLGR4">dominate</a> 11 of the 15 judges on the High Court, which protects him and his cronies from justice. The regime has now begun to target the education sector, robbing the next generations of a more progressive future. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/236022-duterte-revives-call-pass-bill-mandatory-rotc">Mandatory military training</a> is being pushed in high schools to further militarise society. University students are being falsely targeted in the drug war and in the fight against communist insurgents using crude divide-and-conquer <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/195048-duterte-up-lumad-slots-protest-students">tactics</a>. </p>
<p>Without a free media, new forms of cultural and political dissent will be needed. So far, social media has been no salvation – it was the horse Du30 rode in on and still dominates. His DDS – Duterte Diehard Supporters or <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-009-9191-3">Davao Death Squads</a>, referring to the city where Duterte was a former mayor – patrol online and offline. </p>
<p>At times, it feels little has changed across much of south-east Asia since 1971 when Bruce Lee busted out of Hong Kong to global appeal in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067824/v">his film The Big Boss</a>. The cultural trope of Big Bossism is entrenched through <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012370182450043X">computer games</a>, film and TV across south-east Asia – only now the battle is fought with bots and keyboards, not Kung Fu. </p>
<p>Shutting down ABS-CBN is not merely an echo of the Marcos dictatorship – it is a continuation of the enduring weaknesses in the Filipino state. Duterte is the most recent incarnation of the <a href="https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/publication(39ba11f9-9e7c-41d7-8037-95801e28590d).html">Marcos-era Big Boss</a>, wielding the same power in a more potent and deadly fashion. And just as with Duterte, it’s possible other <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/633758">strongmen</a> or <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00472336.2016.1239751?casa_token=8gLqZSWmCDUAAAAA%3AqeYIBs3J4MffCM-lnmuHMp-azV_hxZl8vUnc55zasFJW7rf-vAwgprV0_UcXOlHnzg-Ws1TPJ1JHvQ">authoritarians</a> could follow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138025/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Smith receives funding from The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. </span></em></p>ABS-CBN, the Philippines main broadcaster, was ordered off air on May 5, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.Tom Smith, Principal Lecturer in International Relations, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/857952017-10-23T00:41:54Z2017-10-23T00:41:54ZTerrorist leaders in the Philippines are dead – will democracy be restored?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191240/original/file-20171020-13963-1mlm7lg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Explosions continue in Marawi, a day after President Duterte declared the city liberated.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Bullit Marquez</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For almost five months, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/duterte-declares-martial-law-on-southern-philippine-island-of-mindanao/2017/05/23/cf77fcae-3fd0-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html?utm_term=.51d1a5bd6474">21 million people</a> in the southern Philippines have been living under <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/world-report/articles/2017-05-26/duterte-declares-martial-law-putting-the-philippines-democracy-at-risk">martial law</a>. </p>
<p>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in the province of Mindanao <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/898913/duterte-declares-martial-law-in-mindanao">in May</a> in response to increasing Islamist militant activity.</p>
<p>Since that time, <a href="http://www.manilatimes.net/marawi-free/357155/">more than 1,000</a> people, mostly militants, have died in the army’s campaign to clear Marawi city of Islamist insurgents. Though the leaders of two groups were recently <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/10/16/1749406/how-maute-hapilon-died-one-last-marawi-gunfights">killed</a> by the army and Duterte declared Marawi “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/world/asia/philippines-marawi-fighting.html">liberated</a>,” sporadic fighting continues. Duterte himself recently stated that <a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/630180/duterte-martial-law-in-mindanao-stays-until-last-terrorist-taken-out/story/">martial law will remain</a> “until the last terrorist is taken out.”</p>
<p>Such statements have led many – and not just human rights scholars like myself – to wonder, when will full democracy be restored in the Philippines?</p>
<h2>Undermining democracy</h2>
<p>States of emergency, of which martial law is an extreme form, <a href="http://cfariss.com/documents/Hafner-BurtonHelferFariss2011IO.pdf">allow governments</a> facing serious crises to suspend certain laws and enact emergency plans. For example, under martial law the government can impose a curfew or suspend habeas corpus, allowing individuals to be arrested and detained without warrants. Martial law is permitted in the <a href="http://www.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/">Constitution</a> of the Philippines and the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a>. This is also true in the United States. During the American Civil War, Congress authorized the suspension of habeas corpus in 1863 at <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=69898">President Lincoln’s request</a>. But, martial law increases <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/06/14/the-philippines-is-under-martial-law-heres-how-that-can-be-dangerous-for-democracy/?utm_term=.4f47460b5168">risks of human rights abuses</a>.</p>
<p>This is not the Philippines’ first experience with martial law. When President Ferdinand Marcos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDCHIIXEXes">declared martial law</a> in 1972, he emphasized that it did not represent a military takeover but rather a <a href="http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1972/09/21/proclamation-no-1081/">response</a> to a foreign-directed attempt to overthrow the government. But, he ultimately used martial law as a pretext to install a dictatorship that lasted until 1986. Under his regime, 70,000 Filipinos were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured, according to <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.ph/contact-us/ml_reports/">Amnesty International</a>.</p>
<p>Duterte, who is known for his increasingly unpopular “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/10/philippines-drug-war-hits-president-rodrigo-duterte-popularity-ratings.html">war on drugs</a>” and links to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/02/philippines-president-duterte-drugs-war-death-squads">death squads</a> responsible for extrajudicial killings while he was mayor of Davao City, hinted as early as August 2016 that he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/30/world/asia/rodrigo-duterte-quotes-hitler-whore-philippines.html?_r=0">might use</a> martial law to circumvent <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rodrigo-duterte-martial-law-suspend-elections-in-the-philippines-2017-3">constitutional limits</a> on his power. </p>
<p>And once Duterte eventually <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/898913/duterte-declares-martial-law-in-mindanao">declared martial law</a>, the military immediately announced that it would <a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/philippine-military-to-censor-press-and-social-media-under-martial-law-in-mindanao">censor the press and social media</a> so that military operations would not be compromised.</p>
<p>The president himself has repeatedly said that he will consider <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/24/17/duterte-may-expand-martial-law-to-visayas">expanding martial law</a> to cover the entire country and <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/05/24/1703241/drawing-parallels-marcos-duterte-says-martial-law-period-good">praised Marcos’s use</a> of martial law. More recently, Duterte said that he <a href="http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2017/09/21/protesters-slam-martial-law-killings-under-duterte-565335">will use force</a> in response to anti-government protests that threaten public order.</p>
<p>Political rights, like the freedom to peacefully assemble, are essential to the public’s ability to check executive power. When political rights are compromised, as with the censorship of the press and social media or the suppression of protests, the foundation of democracy can rapidly erode – as citizens of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/world/americas/venezuela-protests-maduro.html">Venezuela</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/14/turkish-opposition-mp-jailed-25-years-latest-political-crackdown/">Turkey</a> have recently experienced.</p>
<h2>Will martial law continue?</h2>
<p>Martial law continues even as civilians are being <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/malaysian-militant-believed-fighters-killed-marawi-50577399">urged to return to their homes</a>. </p>
<p>When martial law will be lifted remains uncertain. On July 22, 2017, the Philippine Congress <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/176345-congress-extend-martial-law-december">voted</a> to extend martial law until December 2017. Any decision to lift it early will have to come from the president. This opens the door for Duterte to find <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/10/17/1749759/afp-martial-law-still-needed-parts-mindanao">justifications for continuing</a> and possibly extending martial law beyond December.</p>
<p>Prominent opposition leaders like Sen. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel have referred to Duterte’s rule as a “<a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Philippine-martial-law-protests-seek-to-end-Duterte-tyranny">Dutertatorship</a>,” and accused his regime of showing a blatant disregard for democracy. But the Senate has so far given a stamp of approval for Duterte’s plans. This political support would give him even greater power if he attempts to extend or expand martial law. However, that’s not a foregone conclusion.</p>
<p>Duterte did little to oppose legal objections to martial law, which made their way to the Supreme Court. Although he has targeted individual opponents, like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/24/philippines-senator-leila-de-lima-president-duterte-serial-killer-faces-arrest">Sen. Leila De Lima</a>, Duterte is not simply shutting down his opposition. For example, he spoke to <a href="https://apnews.com/a86d1f1a8dbf48af88eebbddce91c24e">thousands of protesters</a> outside of his July 2017 State of the Nation address and allowed <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/21/1741336/photos-thousands-protest-martial-law-killings-under-duterte">protests</a> on the 45th anniversary of the imposition of martial law by Marcos. These are promising signs.</p>
<p>Filipinos have been reenergized, staging protests against a range of issues including <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-26/rodrigo-duterte:-philippines-funeral-turns-into-protest/8845686">police brutality</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-mining/protesters-storm-philippines-mining-event-demand-halt-to-extraction-idUSKCN1BH0OQ">large-scale mining</a>. Critics have <a href="https://qz.com/850216/rodrigo-duterte-and-ferdinand-marcos-are-a-tinder-match-made-in-hell-scenes-from-the-protests-in-the-philippines/">challenged</a> Duterte’s 2016 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/asia/philippines-marcos-burial.html">burial of Marcos</a> in the country’s cemetery for national heroes and raised alarms about his coziness with the <a href="https://www.rappler.com/nation/183878-duterte-absolving-bongbong-imee-marcos-lagman">Marcos clan</a>. If martial law is lifted early or allowed to expire in December, then Duterte’s experiment with martial law may have in fact been good for democracy in the Philippines. Only time will tell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Trisko Darden is Assistant Professor at American University's School of International Service and Jeane Kirkpatrick Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. </span></em></p>President Duterte declared martial law back in March to aid the fight against Islamic militants. Many fear he will continue using this power.Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/659722016-12-20T07:39:17Z2016-12-20T07:39:17ZHow the Philippines’ incomplete ‘People Power’ revolution paved the way for Rodrigo Duterte<p>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/world/asia/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-confirms-killings-davao.html?emc=edit_th_20161217&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=64524812&_r=0">confirmed that he killed three men</a> during his time as mayor of Davao city, despite officials trying to downplay an earlier admission. Duterte’s comments might yet hurt his popularity but that seems unlikely. </p>
<p>Duterte’s national crusade has resulted in an alarming daily average of <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs">34 drug war-related murders</a>. Despite this death toll and international condemnation, public satisfaction with his anti-drug war is at a <a href="http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/11/17/SWS-satisfaction-rating-Duterte.html">significantly high rate of 78%</a>.</p>
<p>How can this be explained in a country that a mere 30 years ago brought down a dictator without resorting to violence? How could a nation that inspired the world with its peaceful <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12567320">“People Power” revolution</a> now welcome a return to the <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/146939-martial-law-explainer-victims-stories">state-sanctioned murders</a> of the <a href="http://www.gov.ph/1972/09/21/proclamation-no-1081/">martial-law era</a> of 1972-1981? </p>
<p>Duterte’s rise is an evolving lesson in the vulnerability of democracies in the face of a neglected public. The democratic institutions of the Philippines have little power when faced with a populist president determined to channel frustrations into immediate actions.</p>
<h2>Unfulfilled promise</h2>
<p>In 1986, millions of Filipinos ended Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship through sustained civil resistance against government violence and electoral fraud. This culminated in a massive peaceful protest in the capital along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). The event is now popularly known as the <a href="http://www.philippine-history.org/edsa-people-power-revolution.htm">1986 EDSA People Power Revolution</a>. </p>
<p>Marcos was ousted after 21 years in power. He had been democratically elected as president in 1965, but essentially <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/ferdinand-marcos-9398625">ruled as a dictator from 1972 to 1986</a>.</p>
<p>To the disappointment of many, an <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/1f66dfe4fefaa2c9c5e9c9f712c2e318/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1819646">elite-dominated democracy</a> replaced Marcos’ authoritarian rule. From 1987, a small number of families started to restore their control of the government and rotate the seats of power among themselves. They included the Marcos family, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/former-dictator-marcos-might-be-buried-as-a-hero-in-the-philippines-despite-human-rights-abuses-66078">returned from exile in 1991</a> and were welcomed by their allies. </p>
<p>In the public imagination, the promises of the People Power Revolution went beyond restoring democratic institutions. The narrative went like this: a return to democracy would secure prosperity and security for everyone. The overall framework and various social justice provisions of the <a href="http://www.gov.ph/constitutions/1987-constitution/">1987 Philippine Constitution clearly reflect this</a>. </p>
<p>But three decades later, the post-EDSA pact is far from being fulfilled. </p>
<h2>A neglected public</h2>
<p>The post-EDSA leadership has failed to solve many of the problems that concern Filipinos. Despite promising national growth rates, <a href="http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/58564-oxfam-rising-inequality-world-economic-forum">the gains appear to have largely benefited the rich</a>. More than <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/775062/12m-filipinos-living-in-extreme-poverty">26 million Filipinos</a> remain impoverished. And <a href="http://business.inquirer.net/210532/ph-has-worst-unemployment-rate-despite-high-gdp-growth-research">unemployment rates</a> are said to be the worst in Asia. </p>
<p>This widening gap between rich and poor, recurrent domestic economic crises, <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/759557/ph-slips-in-global-corruption-index-report">epidemic levels of corruption</a> and failed attempts to significantly reduce criminality, have left the public deeply frustrated. Surveys in recent decades have consistently shown that these are the <a href="http://www.pulseasia.ph/september-2016-nationwide-survey-on-urgent-national-and-local-concerns-and-the-performance-ratings-of-the-duterte-administration-on-selected-issues/">most urgent national concerns for many Filipinos</a>.</p>
<p>The 1986 revolution, once a symbol of the promise of democracy and prosperity, is now synonymous in the Filipino popular imagination with <a href="https://www.google.hu/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=worsening%20state%20of%20public%20transportation%20philippines">the dysfunctional transport system</a> in Metro Manila. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.newmandala.org/it-takes-a-nation-to-raise-a-dictators-son/">National commemorations of the EDSA consensus</a> have become officially important, but in the public imagination they tell the tale of how promises are meant to be broken.</p>
<h2>Democracy’s discontent</h2>
<p>Amid political and economic exclusion and malaise came Duterte. He offered empathy to the economic strugglers and protection from the violence of criminals and politicians. His was a twin campaign narrative of care and power. His supporters often highlighted how they felt that Duterte truly cared for them. </p>
<p>And he was not just all talk. Duterte is seen as a man of action: decisive and quick. His “authenticity” is manifest in his <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/130827-rodrigo-duterte-message-care-power-supporters">everyday language coupled with humour that comes from the streets</a>.</p>
<p>Duterte articulated the public’s deep-seated feelings of precariousness and powerlessness using rhetoric they could relate to. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6t3UnoJymM">His campaign rallies</a>, which many proclaimed as <a href="http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/135378-rodrigo-duterte-digong-story-teller">a marvel to behold</a>, showed the rapport between the candidate and his supporters.</p>
<p>Many felt that Duterte rose from the ranks of ordinary citizens despite coming from a traditional political family and holding <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dutertes-drug-war-taps-into-the-philippines-zeitgeist-66081">various political offices for 30 years</a>. This is especially evident in his <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/787975/duterte-ushers-in-cohesive-south">overwhelming support in the southern Philippines</a>, as the first president from a region long neglected by the capital. </p>
<h2>How did it come to this?</h2>
<p>When democracy doesn’t deliver, its legitimacy becomes difficult to defend. And when successive elite-dominated governments have used democracy for their own ends, the balance tilts towards authoritarianism. </p>
<p>Under post-EDSA democracy the <a href="http://www.philstar.com/business/2016/08/25/1617137/forbes-record-number-filipino-billionaires-2016">richest families amassed more wealth than ever</a> while <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/134464-sws-poverty-poll-first-quarter-2016">poverty</a>, <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/07/04/16/hunger-affects-31-million-families-in-ph-survey">hunger</a>, <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/05/06/1319831/mm-has-worlds-highest-homeless-population">homelessness</a>, and <a href="http://www.philstar.com/metro/2015/08/03/1483869/philippine-crime-rate-46">crime</a> continued to afflict ordinary Filipinos. It’s not difficult to imagine why some are <a href="http://nottspolitics.org/2016/03/21/marcos-and-duterte-authoritarian-nostalgia-in-the-philippines/">nostalgic for the authoritarian past</a>. Although national statistics show otherwise, people felt those were the country’s golden years.</p>
<p>Extrajudicial killings are a regular feature of post-EDSA governments as they were of the martial law years. Examples include the <a href="http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/81659-still-no-justice-mendiola-massacre">1987 Mendiola massacre</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ab1ux2DiHw">2004 Hacienda Luisita massacre</a> and <a href="http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1943191,00.html">2009 Maguindanao massacre</a>, to name a few. </p>
<p>Perpetrators have not been brought to justice. Even before Duterte, <a href="http://www.interaksyon.com/article/109374/philippines-has-worst-impunity-problem---study">the Philippines was known as the country with the worst state of impunity</a>. Government critics were the usual victims until Duterte took aim at alleged drug dealers and users. </p>
<p>In my fieldwork in a massive poor urban community in Quezon City, residents have welcomed Duterte’s war on drugs. They now feel more secure in what they call their “drug-infested community” even though drug use has <a href="https://theconversation.com/just-how-big-is-the-drug-problem-in-the-philippines-anyway-66640">substantially declined compared to previous decades</a>, according to one village official. </p>
<p>Residents argue that their perceptions of community security are just as important as the numbers in government records. For people to feel safe in a <a href="http://www.philstar.com/nation/2015/02/19/1425462/pdea-92-metro-manila-barangays-drug-affected">city where 92% of villages face drug-related crimes</a> and in a <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/118004-crime-drugs-philippines">nation where crimes against persons and property are rising</a> is no easy thing. </p>
<p>When Duterte’s campaign translates to perceived everyday safety, it is no wonder that drug-war murders have not met considerable resistance.</p>
<p>Anyone with experience of the country’s institutions of justice knows how elusive criminal justice is. Around <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/sonny-angara/sen-angaras-privilege-speech-on-ejk-hearings-as-delivered/1161244923965055">80% of drug cases end up being dismissed</a> and it may take a decade to achieve a conviction. </p>
<p>There are many reasons for this, but Duterte’s narrative that drug lords are so powerful that they can influence even the judiciary is not far-fetched. <a href="http://www.philstar.com/inbox-world/640998/do-you-trust-justice-system-philippines-why-or-why-not">Most people do not trust the judiciary</a> and many are convinced that power and money are needed to claim justice.</p>
<p>Previous administrations also made a mockery out of the national justice system; even convicted corrupt politicians enjoy their freedom while innocents languish in jail. A corruption whistleblower, Jun Lozada, was <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/808692/jun-lozada-convicted-of-graft-gets-10-years">recently convicted</a>, while ex-president Gloria Arroyo was <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/140200-supreme-court-ruling-gloria-arroyo">acquitted and set free</a>. </p>
<p>The legislature has been used to turn issues of justice into a public circus, such as in the impeachment of <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/special-coverage/corona-trial/6099-corona-found-guilty">Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Corona</a> and the hearings on allegations of graft and corruption against <a href="http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/07/14/ombudsman-files-corruption-charges-jejomar-binay.html">former vice president Jejomar Binay</a>. </p>
<p>Is it surprising then that Dutarte’s supporters find calls to follow the rule of law and due process hypocritical? When institutions do not work, it becomes unreasonable to rely on them. </p>
<p>Duterte’s narrative plays on the temptations for a disgruntled public to claim swift justice. In the context of his rise to power, it’s no surprise that calls to respect human rights or the rule of law fall on deaf ears. </p>
<p>The election of Duterte may be seen as the nadir, but possibly also a turning point, in the long-standing democratic deficit in <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/philippines/democracy-human-rights-and-governance">Asia’s oldest democracy</a>. His rejection of the rule of law and liberal democracy represents a rupture in the post-EDSA consensus. </p>
<p>It’s not a stretch to say that the Philippines’ elite democracy had it coming. The failure to deliver on the promises of the People Power revolution made the rise of Duterte politically possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cleve Arguelles receives funding from the Central European University and the University of the Philippines.</span></em></p>The people of the Philippines brought down a dictator without resorting to violence 30 years ago. But continuing disappointment with their democracy means they now support a populist president.Cleve V. Arguelles, Instructor of Political Science, University of the PhilippinesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/660812016-10-07T06:56:24Z2016-10-07T06:56:24ZHow Duterte’s drug war taps into the Philippines’ zeitgeist<p>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has attracted international condemnation with his violent crackdown on alleged drug takers and his dismissive attitude towards his country’s traditional allies. But his popularity at home remains incredibly high – he seems to have his finger on the nation’s pulse. </p>
<p>Every day during the first 100 days of Duterte’s administration, <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs">an average of 36 Filipinos</a> have been killed. About half of these extrajudicial killing are in the country’s capital Manila. </p>
<p>In the Philippines’ so-called “war on drugs”, suspects die in “encounters” with police, are shot by motorcycle-riding vigilante gunmen, or are killed by trained and unofficial police death squads. Their taped up bodies are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/04/philippines-secret-death-squads-police-officer-teams-behind-killings">left with a cardboard confessional sign</a> strapped around their necks, saying “pusher” or “drug lord”, or dumped under a bridge or neighbouring town.</p>
<p>The guilt of victims is assumed – never proven, seriously investigated, or even questioned.</p>
<h2>The sad, the bizarre, and the misguided</h2>
<p>Not surprisingly, there have been reports of many heart-wrenching cases of violent death. A <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/26/asia/danica-may-garcia-philippines-drugs/">five-year-old girl was killed</a> in late September after gunmen aiming to kill her grandfather opened fire. A father and son caught smoking <em>shabu</em>, the most widely available methamphetamine in the country, were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/world/asia/philippines-duterte-drug-killings.html">beaten and then shot dead</a> while in police custody.</p>
<p>Photos taken by Raffy Lerma on July 23 of <a href="http://opinion.inquirer.net/96101/the-story-behind-the-viral-photo">Jennilyn Olayres embracing her murdered partner</a>, peddycab driver Michael Siaron, on the street became iconic as Filipinos immediately associated with Michaelango’s famous Pietà sculpture showing Mary cradling the crucified Jesus. A cardboard sign next to his body carried the chilling message <em>Pusher ako, wag tularan</em> (I’m a pusher, don’t do what I did). </p>
<p>President Duterte dismissed this case as “overdramatised”, suggesting one had to be hard hearted to “win” a war against drugs.</p>
<p>There have been bizarre incidents among the bloodshed as well. One case saw a suspected drug taker who “<a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/815099/drug-suspect-rises-from-the-dead">rose from the dead</a>” become inevitably associated with the TV zombie craze. The Philippine media reported that a man found lying in his own pool of blood stood up once he felt safe in the presence of reporters who came to cover the apparent killing. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/118004-crime-drugs-philippines">Crime has been linked</a> to illicit drug use in the Philippines, but the country is certainly not about to degenerate into a “narco state”. No drug gangs are directly challenging the authority of the state as in Mexico, or Columbia before that. Even so, there’s a growing fascination with such states in the country. </p>
<p>Filipinos have become obsessed with the Netflix series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2707408/">Narcos</a> about Colombia’s drug lord Pablo Escobar. Showing death can imitate fiction, <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/09/20/1625562/bato-colombia-present-philippine-style-drug-war">one Philippine commentator surmised</a> police chief Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who is responsible for the anti-drug campaign, was inspired by the television programme to fly to Colombia recently to find out how that South American country had “won” the war on drugs. </p>
<p>He found the country’s President Juan Manuel Santos <a href="http://www.philstar.com/supreme/2016/09/24/1626768/review-narcos-state-mind">has been advocating</a> a more humane solution to the problem.</p>
<h2>War on the poor?</h2>
<p>Since becoming president in late June, Duterte has implemented his “Davao model” of giving police and vigilantes a license to kill drug suspects nationwide. </p>
<p>The name comes from the town where he was twice vice mayor (1986-1987 and 2010-2013) and thrice mayor (1988-1998, 2001-2010 and 2013-2016) before he became president; Davao is the largest city in the conflict-torn southern island of Mindanao. And Duterte’s anti-drug policy left over 1,400 people dead there. </p>
<p>Duterte used his “tough on crime” approach to win the May 2016 presidential election as a political outsider, promising to restore law and order with strongman rule. Columbia University academic Sheila Coronel has called Duterte the “<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/09/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-manila-drugs-davao/500756/">bastard child of Philippine democracy</a>”.</p>
<p>In a report about the widow of a victim of the anti-drug drive, reporter Jamela Alindogan of Al Jazeera, who has been a leader in the international coverage of the killings, summed up the view of many critics, noting there were fears that “<a href="http://video.aljazeera.com/channels/eng/videos/hundreds-killed-in-philippines-drugs-crackdown/504729794300">the war on drugs is a war against the poor</a>.”</p>
<p>Foreign human rights groups and most Western governments have been outspoken in their criticism as have some Philippine activist groups. But <a href="http://www.newmandala.org/storm-bullets-wave-apathy/">protest has been limited</a> in the face of police terror directed primarily at the poor.</p>
<p>Duterte has played to the deep resentments of those marginally better off after 15 years of solid economic growth. And he’s done so despite the “straight path” anti-corruption platform of the previous administration of president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. </p>
<p>“<a href="http://opinion.inquirer.net/94530/dutertismo">Dutertismo</a>” as the Philippine sociologist Randy David has termed it, has been driven by middle-class worries about rising crime and a broken justice system, as well as crumbling infrastructure and continued corruption. </p>
<p>Academic Nicole Curato has applied the term “<a href="https://theconversation.com/philippines-cannot-build-a-nation-over-the-bodies-of-100-000-dead-in-dutertes-war-on-drugs-64053">penal populism</a>” - appeals to voters who feel threatened by crime and not protected by the police or the courts - to the Philippines to describe a fantasy “that sets apart the virtuous public from the degenerates who do not deserve due process.”</p>
<p>This “<a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/05/08/duterte-and-the-politics-of-anger-in-the-philippines/">politics of anger</a>” leaves little room for treating drugs as a health problem, and as symptom of social problems rather than its cause. The latter approach would allow for the rule of law and for rehabilitation to deal with the problem, thereby avoiding the criminalisation of the poor. </p>
<p>But the fact that there’s been so little protest against Duterte’s “war on drugs” is a sad indicator of the expendability of life at the bottom of the social hierarchy in the Philippines.</p>
<h2>Silencing opponents</h2>
<p>Duterte has also mobilised nationalist antipathy against foreign interference, and that of the US in particular, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/04/asia/philippines-duterte-us-breakup/">to deflect criticism</a> from his violent drug crackdown.</p>
<p>Indeed, his popularity seems part of the national zeitgeist. Last year, Filipinos flocked to the local film <a href="http://henerallunathemovie.com/#Synopsis">Heneral Luna</a>, which celebrates the life and death of the strong-willed General Juan Luna. Commander of the revolutionary army, he fought against US occupation in 1898 but was betrayed by his compatriots. </p>
<p>When running for the country’s highest elected office Duterte said a president must be willing to risk his life to defend the people, tapping into the mood created by the film. He pledged his willingness to die in carrying out his promise to eradicate drugs.</p>
<p>Given Duterte’s super-majority in Congress, only a handful of politicians have spoken out against the killings. One who has <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/143360-de-lima-duterte-attacks-very-foul">consistently criticised Duterte’s bloodbath</a> is former Commission on Human Rights chairperson, former Justice Secretary and now Senator, Leila de Lima.</p>
<p>She has <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/148226-public-trial-leila-de-lima">paid for her outspokenness</a>. She was removed as head of the Senate committee investigating the killings. And Duterte’s congressional allies retaliated with hearings in the lower house that saw former convicts testify that she had granted them privileged conditions in prison while she was Secretary of Justice, in return for drug money <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/147599-leila-de-lima-soce-contributors-2016-elections">contributions to her senatorial campaign</a>. </p>
<p>Duterte claimed <a href="http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/09/23/1626562/de-lima-screwing-not-only-her-driver-also-nation">de Lima has drug connections</a> through her driver who had become her lover, a double sin in starkly class-divided patriarchal society.</p>
<p>De Lima has received death threats and has been <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/147003-leila-de-lima-fear-security-transfer-temporary-home">forced to leave her home</a>. </p>
<h2>Dissolving democracy?</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs">more than 3,600 people killed</a> in the anti-drug war <a href="http://pcij.org/stories/war-on-drugs-no-eo-signed-by-du30-a-chaos-of-numbers/">already exceeds the 3,240 people</a> Amnesty International estimates were “salvaged” (a Filipino term for extrajudicial killings) during the nearly 14 years of dictatorship under Ferdinand Marcos.</p>
<p>There’s a discrepancy between Duterte and his police chief’s claim that there are more than three million drug addicts in the Philippines. The government’s own Dangerous Drugs Board estimates there are in fact <a href="http://pcij.org/stories/war-on-drugs-no-eo-signed-by-du30-a-chaos-of-numbers/">1.24 million illegal drug takers</a> in the country. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Duterte’s defence of his anti-drug campaign has become increasingly unhinged. In a recent outburst, he compared his campaign to the Nazi holocaust against the Jews. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-duterte-hitler-idUSKCN1220H9">He later apologised</a>. </p>
<p>The reasons for Duterte’s rise to power and the silence, if not acceptance, from Philippine society about his violent crackdown on drug takers has historical roots. </p>
<p>Not even modest steps toward transitional justice were attempted during the early post-Marcos period, which was marred by repeated military coup attempts. And this established a pattern of informal immunity from prosecution that, with few exceptions, has continued since then.</p>
<p>Democracy has not yet died in the Philippines; the press remains uncensored and opposition criticism is still tolerated. But civil liberties, particularly the right to life, lie buried beneath the corpses of thousands of victims of Duterte’s 100-day “war on drugs”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66081/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark R Thompson receives funding from the Hong Kong government to study the problems of democracy in Southeast Asia.</span></em></p>Duterte used his “tough on crime” approach to win the election as a political outsider, promising to restore law and order with strongman rule. His approval rating has since soared to over 90%.Mark R Thompson, Professor of Politics & Head of the Department of Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong KongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/660782016-10-04T06:17:34Z2016-10-04T06:17:34ZFormer dictator Marcos might be buried as a hero in the Philippines, despite human rights abuses<p>The Philippine government’s decision to bury former president-turned dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Cemetery for Heroes (<em>Libingan ng Mga Bayani</em>) marks the climax of over half a century of the Marcos family’s presence in national politics.</p>
<p><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/14/asia/philippines-marcos-burial-protest/">Protests over Rodrigo Duterte administration’s decision</a> and a Philippine <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/811432/ph-court-hears-petitions-against-marcos-hero-burial">Supreme Court challenge by anti-Marcos activists</a>, human rights lawyers, and victims of the dictatorship illustrate the contested nature of Ferdinand Marcos’ legacy. </p>
<h2>Slide into autocracy</h2>
<p>Elected to government in 1965, Marcos was the only president of the Philippine Republic to be elected to a second term in office when he ran again in 1969. On September 21 1972, he <a href="http://www.gov.ph/1972/09/21/proclamation-no-1081/">declared martial law</a>, citing street protests by student activists and a rising Communist insurgency. It would last until 1981.</p>
<p>Congress was padlocked. Opposition leaders, student activists, and media personalities who opposed Marcos were <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/24/archives/mass-arrests-and-curfew-announced-in-philippines-mass-arrests.html?_r=0">arrested by the military and detained in military camps</a>. Newspaper offices, and television and radio stations were closed down. And a nationwide curfew was imposed. </p>
<p>Marcos’ one-man rule was marked by kleptocracy, and human rights abuses that included <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/146939-martial-law-explainer-victims-stories">warrantless arrests, disappearances, torture, and the murder of political opponents</a>. Civil liberties were suspended; the media was effectively controlled; and corruption was rampant, with the regime’s cronies getting juicy contracts for government projects. </p>
<p>Marcos was finally brought down by the Phililpines’ first <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12567320">People Power Revolution</a> in February 1986. He and his family fled to Hawaii but nothing has come of the numerous investigations of their kleptocracy, which is thought to have amounted to billions of dollars.</p>
<p>All this might suggest that the idea of moving his remains to <em>Libingan ng Mga Bayani</em> would be met with widespread condemnation, but some Filipinos are supportive of the suggestion. Some analysts say Filipinos easily <a href="http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/02/25/Marcoses-in-power-EDSA-Revolution.html">forgive and forget</a>; others called it <a href="http://thewip.net/2011/09/07/philippine-historical-amnesia-reflections-on-marcos-authoritarian-rule/">historical amnesia</a>. </p>
<h2>Ongoing involvement</h2>
<p>Imelda Marcos and her children came back to the Philippines from Hawaii in 1991, bringing with them the embalmed body of the late president, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/29/obituaries/ferdinand-marcos-ousted-leader-of-philippines-dies-at-72-in-exile.html">who had died in 1989</a>. Marcos’ body remains in public view in a mausoleum in his home province in northern Philippines.</p>
<p>Since then, Imelda and two of her children, Ferdinand Jr (nicknamed Bongbong) and his elder sister, Imee, have been elected as representatives to the Philippine Congress for their province. Two other children, Irene and Aimee, remained out of politics, concentrating instead on local arts and culture. </p>
<p>Bongbong later took the big step of running in the national elections, winning a seat in the Philippine Senate in 2010. Observers started predicting a Marcos return to power when he stood for vice president in this year’s election but he came – a close – <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/787873/leni-robredo-is-vice-president">second</a>. </p>
<p>Then, barely a month into President Duterte’s term, the new president announced plans to move Marcos’ remains to the national cemetery for distinguished military officers, former presidents and state-honored artists. </p>
<h2>The makings of amnesia</h2>
<p>How can the idea of moving Marcos to the <em>Libingan ng Mga Bayani</em> arise in light of his crimes against his nation? </p>
<p>It seems that despite technology opening up the world of information, many young Filipinos are unaware of what happened under the dictatorship. They don’t seem to see the difference between the corruption and human rights abuses under Marcos and what took place under administrations that followed. Indeed, they appear to see governments in broad general terms – good or bad. </p>
<p>Leaders are no longer elected because of their capability to rule but <a href="http://bulatlat.com/main/2016/04/30/its-all-about-popularity-name-recall-and-money/">because of populism</a> among the electorate. Presidents as well as national and local leaders are elected as the better alternative to their predecessors, rather than as successors for their country’s development. </p>
<p>The fact is that few lessons learned about the dictatorship were handed down to the next generation. No government truth commission or <a href="http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=marcos&8217-long-shadow&id=126038">any other investigating body</a> was formed to look into the cases of Marcos’s victims. </p>
<p>In 2013, a <a href="http://hrvclaimsboard.gov.ph/">Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board</a> was set up to recognise and provide reparations for violations during Marcos’s 1972-1986 rule. But, to date, out of the 75,000 claimants who have come forward, only 11,000 have been compensated. </p>
<p>Nothing was done to punish those who were liable for the crimes committed during martial law. A government office - the <a href="http://www.gov.ph/section/briefing-room/presidential-commission-on-good-government/">Presidential Commission on Good Government</a> - was formed in 1986 to go after the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos (estimated to be US$5 to US$10 billion) and his cronies. But, <a href="http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/123664-recovering-marcos-ill-gotten-wealth-30-years">after 30 years</a>, it has reportedly recovered US$3.6 billion.</p>
<h2>Missing memories</h2>
<p>The dark side of Marcos’s rule has also been absent from history books. A <a href="http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/556745/lifestyle/artandculture/never-again-book-aims-to-keep-public-memory-of-martial-law-atrocities-from-fading">book providing a balanced account</a> that addresses both victims and enforcers of the martial law years was finally published this year. </p>
<p>Filipinos celebrated the democracy that was returned with the ouster of the dictator and his family in 1986. But they didn’t ensure its capacity to withstand the amnesia that followed the trauma of 22 years of Marcos rule. </p>
<p>And when the celebrations finally ended in 1991 with the return of the dictator’s family, those Filipinos who, six years before had stood before tanks and faced the guns of the military in a peaceful revolution were left looking askance.</p>
<p>The lessons of the martial law era are still being learned. Meanwhile, indifference to the darkest days of the Philippines continues among some of the nation’s citizens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Victor Torres does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government’s decision to bury Ferdinand Marcos in the national Cemetery for Heroes illustrates the contested nature of the dictator’s legacy.Jose Victor Torres, Associate Professor of History, De La Salle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.