32 | the world today | december 2016 & january 2017

Philippines

fidence and hope. In the Philippines it can be a frightening thought. The list was even-tually trimmed to five serious candidates, and Duterte was one of them.

A presidential candidate needs sure financial backing and the personality to stand out. Duterte had both. A manifesto was optional. The 71-year-old Duterte didn’t mind not having one, after all, he had 21 years’ experience as mayor. He would simply fashion the country after the city of Davao.

Famous for his uncompromising stance against corruption, crime and drugs in the city, he exudes a toughness few main-stream rivals could – or would want to –match. He swore and womanized, proudly proclaiming: ‘I have two girlfriends.’

‘You want me for president? You need to know who I really am,’ he declared in November 2015. He had come to represent a popular clamour among Filipinos for peace and order that had been lost under democracy. Ironically, it was the People Power revolt of 1986 that made him Mayor of Davao. If Duterte was ‘authentic’, it was

Philippine democracy is populist democ-racy. Elections operate on the basis of popularity, fear, and patronage. People have become used to a ‘guns, goons, and gold’ style of politics. Buying votes is com-monplace and as mediators of public demands and interests, political parties are ineffective, weak and unstable. Parties are malleable organizations shaped and reshaped according to the whims of indi-vidual leaders. Not surprisingly, there is little trust in them.

When Rodrigo Duterte campaigned for the presidency, long experience as mayor of Davao, the Philippine’s third most pop-ulous city, meant he already had popular appeal. Many welcomed his candidacy. After all, elections in the Philippines are circus-like occasions. One candidate prom-ised to establish a ‘divine government’. Another claimed that all Filipinos would be millionaires within three years if he were elected. More than 100 people initially filed to run for president in 2016.

In most other democracies, to say that ‘anyone can be president’ can inspire con-

A leader who shoots from the lipJorge Tigno introduces us to the strange world of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

PHILLIPPINES Duterte TIGNO 08.indd 32 05/12/2016 22:20

the world today | december 2016 & january 2017 | 33

Philippines

nothing to his election campaign. It was like no other. His authenticity made him stand out and he was receiving so many financial donations, he reportedly had to start turning them down.

What he lacked in sophistication he made up for in bombast and theatricality. He captivated people. Once asked how he, if elected president, would handle the ter-ritorial dispute on a cluster of islands in the South China Sea being claimed by the Phil-ippines and China, among others, he said that he would ride a jet ski to one of the disputed islands and plant the Philippine flag there. No one knew if it was just a joke or a ‘unique’ approach to diplomacy.

Duterte offered no specific programme, yet a lot of Filipinos saw in him an unadul-terated desire to make the country better. In one debate, he even said he would sim-ply ‘copy’ some of his rivals’ platforms because he felt that they were rather good.

After the elections, many supporters described Duterte’s victory as overwhelm-ing, citing the 16 million votes he received, yet this was only about 40 per cent of the total. His predecessor Benigno Aquino III won in 2010 with nearly as many votes.

The creation of the Duterte myth had begun. Teachers at the school where Duterte cast his vote sent the chair he used to a museum for public display.

In office, Duterte continues to be known for his swearing and unconventional poli-cies that can appear to defy logic. People are drawn to him because of this anti-intel-lectualism and his fans are known as ‘Dutertards’ for their fierce loyalty to eve-rything that comes out of his mouth.

His work ethic is unconventional. He holds press conferences at 3am and when criticized for whistling at a female report-er, he turned the tables, questioning the sexist interpretation of his critics and claiming his ‘freedom of expression’ was protected under the constitution.

In his first official address to the nation in July 2016, Duterte stated that his fight against criminals, illegal drugs, and corrup-tion ‘will be relentless and sustained’ and that police officials need to ‘double your efforts. Triple them, if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last finan-cier and the last pusher have surrendered or are put, either behind bars or below the ground, if they so wish.’ His anti-drugs campaign is measured by its body count. Thousands of drug suspects died in the first

five months of his presidency. It was obvi-ous from the start that diplomacy was not Duterte’s strongest suit. Combined with a rather ugly temper, his personal ‘foreign policy’ pronouncements have led to one blunder after another. In October, he denounced the Paris Agreement on Cli-mate Change, calling it ‘stupid’ and ‘ab-surd’. A few days later he reversed his stance, saying his cabinet had persuaded him to implement the agreement.

His sense of humour is as unconvention-al as his workstyle. When he saw he was being portrayed in the West as ‘a cousin of Hitler’ he called his critics stupid, but later drew parallels between his anti-drugs cam-paign and Hitler’s extermination of the Jews. Hitler killed millions of Jews during the Holocaust so, Duterte argued, he would be happy to slaughter the reported three million drug addicts in the country. He later apologized claiming the compari-son ‘was just a play of the tongue.’ What he meant by that is anybody’s guess.

Duterte takes criticisms personally. After being attacked for his anti-drugs campaign, Duterte unleashed vitriolic remarks against the US and President Barack Obama, telling the world’s most powerful leader to ‘go to hell’ and announc-ing the end of joint military exercises.

A key ally in the Philippine Congress, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, later said that Filipinos should understand that the people elected Duterte as president, ‘not as a top diplomat’. Unfortunately the two functions cannot be separated.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs later clarified that US-Philippine relations continue to be strong and that no real change in foreign policy would be forthcoming, particularly in its long alli-ance with the US. It may be that Duterte has again been persuaded to rethink his position. But it is also possible that people in the foreign policy establishment simply do not take him seriously.

In some ways, Duterte’s rather ‘unpres-idential’ behaviour can be seen as ‘normal’ in a political system where weirdness has become the norm. Duterte has merely been honest about his outspoken views at a time when many Filipinos have lost faith in con-ventional, sophisticated and nuanced solu-tions. As a result, support for his uncon-ventional leadership style continues.

Professor Jorge Tigno teaches and writes about Philippine politics at the University of the Philippines-Diliman

Rodrigo Duterte casts his vote. His chair has now been sent to a museum

‘In office he continues to be known for his swearing and unconventional policies that can appear to defy logic’

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