The Duterte dissonance: One leader, two Philippines?
| Quezon City, Philippines
The first time Margie saw Rodrigo Duterte was on the hit Filipino talk show 鈥淕andang Gabi, Vice!鈥� (鈥淕ood Evening, Vice!鈥�)
President Duterte 鈥� still mayor of the southern city of Davao 鈥� sat before a live audience and opened up about his political and personal life: He conceded that he did things others wouldn鈥檛 do, like to wipe out crime. He bantered over his extramarital affairs. He danced to a pair of American pop songs.听
Margie, a factory worker,听was struck by Mr. Duterte鈥檚 candor and humility. Here, she thought, was a man grounded in a culture she recognized 鈥� a foil to highbrow politicians with their foreign degrees and lofty speeches. Duterte, she says in Tagalog, 鈥渟eemed genuine.鈥�
Less than a听year later, Margie counted herself among 16 million Filipinos who handed Duterte the presidency. Today 鈥� despite his reputation abroad as a misogynist and despot 鈥� Margie (whose last name has been omitted for privacy) stands by her president.
鈥淚 know he鈥檚 got a lot on his mind, because it鈥檚 hard to be the father of our government,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut I know he will help us.鈥�
Duterte is a source of deep dissonance among Filipinos today. Either he is leading the Philippines to ruin, paving the way for the demise of democracy and human dignity; or he is carving a violent path out of the mire of crime and corruption that has corroded the nation鈥檚 soul for more than three decades, and shattering status quos along the way. In each side鈥檚 eyes, the other lives in a fantasy wrought of malice, ignorance, or some warped combination of both.
The grounds for the West鈥檚 condemnation of Duterte are already familiar: that his most notorious acts 鈥� joking about rape, cursing world leaders, commanding an anti-drug war with thousands of casualties 鈥� are an affront to democratic ideals like civil discourse and human rights. Not all of his supporters contest that. But in the president鈥檚 coarse, authoritative manner, they see order, competence, and authenticity in a country where red tape makes a nightmare of getting a driver鈥檚 license or starting a business; where cab rides could quickly become robberies; and where the ruling philosophy has long been that everyone 鈥� from local traffic cop to head of state 鈥� can be bought.听
It is a vision defined by fear, many of Duterte鈥檚 critics argue, and that fear听is ripe for exploitation.听But if the president鈥檚 rise was powered by a 鈥減olitics of anxiety,鈥� it is intertwined with a 鈥減olitics of hope,鈥� sociologist Nicole Curato argues in that pushes against simple interpretations of his popularity. Duterte鈥檚 message confronts many Filipino voters鈥� concerns in a way that they see as both aggressive and empowering, giving voice to the 鈥渁gency, esteem and collective aspirations鈥� they feel mainstream politics has denied them, she writes.听
Supporters like Margie speak of Duterte as an avatar for hope and change in a country buckling beneath three decades of weak and corrupt leadership. His allies among the upper classes say he has the backbone to stand up to powers, both foreign and local, that have long exploited the country鈥檚 people and resources. And his aversion to bureaucracy and self-proclaimed penchant for blunt solutions听have been salves to a swath of citizenry that has felt politically impotent for decades.听
鈥淚n all the years I鈥檝e been alive, and I鈥檓 old now, nothing has changed. Things just got harder,鈥� says Margie. 鈥淪o when I saw [Duterte] on 鈥楪andang Gabi Vice!鈥� I said: Let鈥檚 give this guy a try.鈥�
Near midday on a Monday, Margie and a colleague sit side by side on a small gray couch at the national offices of the Associated Labor听Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) in Quezon City. Posters exhorting, 鈥淛obs for all鈥� hang on the whitewashed walls. A window air-conditioning unit labors to dispel the humidity.
The two women have suffered through the three-hour trek from their homes听to get an update on a wrongful termination lawsuit they had filed against their former employer, an electronics company. (The company contends the layoffs were due to financial pressures, but the women claim it was because they formed a union.) For months, they had waited for the government to process paperwork that would allow them to receive two years鈥� worth of back pay from the firm, Margie says.听
Then, in early February, they called the president鈥檚 24/7. Less than a week later, the papers were released. 鈥淚t was so fast!鈥� Margie says, leaning forward in her seat, wringing the small pink towel in her hands.听
The administration has that the hotline has made a dent in dismantling institutional red tape. Still, Margie鈥檚 story points to a key part of the president鈥檚, says Louie Corral, ALU-TUCP vice president. Headlines have for years trumpeted that the Philippines has, he says, but the working-class Filipino hardly ever sees windfall from this progress. In 2016, the nation鈥檚 50 wealthiest individuals were worth of the country鈥檚 gross domestic product. Meanwhile,听 of the population makes less than $2,000 a year.
鈥淎 Filipino worker, looking at all these high-rises going up and seeing the new car shows putting on their products for display, understands the kind of lifestyle he will never have,鈥� Corral says. 鈥淒uterte spoke to that as candidate and still, now, as president. He speaks to that sense of frustration in that they鈥檙e helping create this wealth, but they鈥檙e not sharing in it at all.鈥�
What something like the grievance hotline provides is a sense of agency in the midst of that helplessness. 鈥淭he politics of hope opens up spaces for citizens to visualise better conditions within their lifetime,鈥� writes Curato, a research fellow at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra in Australia, in her 2016 article.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听
Money and prestige might afford the middle and upper classes a more comfortable vantage point, but that doesn鈥檛 mean they haven鈥檛 also yearned for transparent, efficient government. Rey Joseph Nieto, a writer who runs the pro-Duterte political blog Thinking Pinoy (slang for 鈥淔ilipino鈥�), recalls his shock when he moved to Davao in 2007. By then, Duterte had been mayor for five terms, was on his way to six, and had developed a reputation for turning the city around by being tough on crime.
鈥淵ou know that feeling when you come from the Philippines and you go to Singapore for the first time?鈥� Nieto asks, in a mix of English and Tagalog, during a phone interview. 鈥淓verything works. If you need something, you can get it.鈥� That鈥檚 how he felt in Davao, he says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have to worry about safety, about paperwork.鈥澨�
鈥淚f he does [in the rest of the country] just 20 percent of what he did in Davao,鈥� Nieto adds, 鈥渉e鈥檚 golden.鈥�
***
In mid-March, Duterte announced his intent to withdraw the Philippines from the International Criminal Court, a decision met with . The ICC 鈥� established in 1998 as a way to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity 鈥� is currently looking into听 since Duterte began his drug war in Davao City in 1988.
In Manila, the fear and anger about the campaign are real. Hundreds of reports, many from, have captured the horror and heartbreak families and communities experience when a drug addict 鈥� or someone suspected of being one 鈥� is shot to death on the street. Media, human rights groups, and the Roman Catholic Church (the Philippines is a majority-Catholic country) have all denounced the killings.
鈥淜illing civilians, killing as a solution, is not a solution,鈥� says Raymund Villanueva, a local reporter and director of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a failure of governance.鈥�
How then to explain Duterte鈥檚 satisfaction rating, which in the last quarter of 2017 averaged at just听 among Filipinos across most ages, class, and gender?
Critics of the president 鈥� who often 听 鈥� tend to see his support, in part, as a commentary on human nature. Empathy fades in the face of hunger and poverty, they say, and the value of life diminishes when that life is unfamiliar 鈥� when the dead man is not a friend or family member; not someone of the same class; not perceived as a law-abiding or contributing member of society.
鈥淭o the ordinary citizen, a life is only valuable when it is close to him,鈥� Rizalito David, a board member of the Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, says in Tagalog. 鈥淚f he thinks someone is breaking the law, that person鈥檚 life is forfeit. 鈥業t鈥檚 good that you鈥檙e dead, because you were selling drugs or using drugs.鈥� 鈥�
The drug war is billed as a war against criminality, which many, both poor and privileged, see as the reason the streets were so dangerous and the country鈥檚 progress kept stalling. Margie, for instance, claims she鈥檚 never felt safer in her neighborhood. 鈥淚t used to be very dangerous once you stepped outside,鈥� she says. Anyone out after 10 p.m. risked getting robbed, raped, or killed, she argues. 鈥淎t least now there are plenty of cops making the rounds. You鈥檙e not afraid of the street anymore.鈥�
Was killing really the way to get there? Margie frowns. 鈥淭o be frank, if that鈥檚 what you鈥檙e facing anyway, we might as well make sure there are fewer bad people,鈥� she says. 鈥淣o, really. People have been killing each other [in my community] since I was a kid. Who do you think the victims were?鈥澨�
***
Franco Mabanta strides into the lobby of the swanky Dusit Hotel in Manila鈥檚 central business district. He stops to greet some people he recognizes, then commandeers a table at the hotel restaurant. T-shirt peeking out from under a suit jacket; hair in a 鈥渕an-bun,鈥� sides shaved, Mr. Mabanta, 34, is among the president鈥檚 most prominent and controversial advocates online. [Editor鈥檚 note: Mabanta and the reporter have known each other for nearly a decade. Their families have long been friends.]
His central assertion: Duterte is unafraid to do what needs to be done to get the country on the right track.听
鈥淚 thought that corruption would always be there, that it would be our ubiquitous Voldemort and it would never go away,鈥� says Mr. Mabanta, a social media strategist whose company handles campaigns for a number of politicians, including, he says, pro-bono work for the president. 鈥淲hen I first heard [Duterte] speak, I felt this beaming hope that things could actually be different.鈥�
The way Mabanta sees it, Filipinos are tired: of bureaucracies that don鈥檛 work, of social conservatism that stifles innovation and progressive thinking, and of leaders who grovel to superpowers like the United States. For the first time in his lifetime, he says, world leaders seem to recognize the Philippines as a player, not just a pawn. To Mabanta 鈥� and, he says, to many supporters 鈥� much of that is thanks to Duterte鈥檚 willingness to face down the corrupt and the powerful.
鈥淚 can imagine the stress knots on his back every day,鈥� Mabanta says. 鈥淵et he does not care.鈥�
The president has Filipinos鈥� best interests at heart,听he adds. 鈥淏ut he also thinks that in order to control a big population he has to function through fear.鈥澨�
Duterte鈥檚 (not to mention Mabanta鈥檚) critics argue that a society governed by fear is a broken one; that a struggle to disentangle religious conservatism from public policy was already underway; and that cozying up to the likes of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin is a questionable enterprise at best. Corruption听and violence against journalists and activists is worse than before Duterte took office, by the non-governmental organization Transparency International.
Above all, Duterte鈥檚 opponents say, none of these supposed successes are worth the cost of so many lives.
鈥淲e have a president who thinks nothing of killing tens of thousands,鈥� says Mr. Villanueva, the journalist. 鈥淎 switch has been turned off in the minds of those who can accept that. Something鈥檚 wrong.鈥�
If so, it may not last. Since 1986 鈥� when dictator Ferdinand Marcos fled the country 鈥� nearly every Philippine president has enjoyed high support in the early years of administration. Eventually, each leader stumbles, along with his ratings,听says Leo Laroza, communications director for Social Weather Stations, one of the nation鈥檚 top polling institutions.
Back at ALU headquarters, Margie and her colleague wait to close our their case. They want to find steady work, and live stable lives. And they hunger for leaders who will help them do so.
鈥淢y goal in life is to be able to pay for my [condo] unit,鈥� Margie says. 鈥淭hat way I know I鈥檒l have somewhere to go when I get old.鈥� Her mortgage is 3,000 pesos, or $60, a month 鈥� a far-off dream for someone who, when employed, gets paid about $6 a day.
But she鈥檚 willing to hang on 鈥渂ecause we know: our president, he will help us,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 know he will.鈥�
