Philippines Election: Back to the Future

 By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Waves seem to move through an ocean, yet the water always returns to its rest position, since the particles really travel in circles. So it’s a type of optical illusion. This is an apt metaphor for politics in the Philippines, now that a Marcos is back in power.

Filipinos are a Malay people who have a political culture unique to southeast Asia. Other than in the southern island of Mindanao, where there is a Muslim population, the vast majority are Roman Catholics.

Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, the country named for King Philip II of Spain, began in 1565, with the arrival of an expedition from Mexico. It also saw the introduction of Christianity.

The Philippines was ruled under the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain, a vital link between Spain’s American empire and its Asian and South Pacific possessions, until Mexico became independent in 1821. After that, the colony was directly governed by Spain.

Because it was under Spanish rule for 333 years the Philippines has many affinities with Latin America, including its political culture.

The archipelago became an American possession after the 1898 Spanish-American War and was under U.S. tutelage for a further 48 years, until granted independence in 1946. This added a veneer of democracy to its political structures.

The country was wracked by political turmoil in the last quarter of the 20th century. After enduring more than a decade of authoritarian rule under President Ferdinand Marcos, the People Power movement in 1986 led a bloodless uprising against his regime.

Marcos had declared martial law in 1972 and took control of the country’s courts, businesses, and media. The army and police arrested and tortured thousands of dissidents. The years that followed were one of the darkest periods in the nation’s history, with widespread human rights abuses.

Marcos, his wife Imelda, and his cronies plundered an estimated $10 billion from public funds while millions of people lived in extreme poverty. They fled to Hawaii where Ferdinand Marcos died in exile three years later.

The 1986 uprising resulted not only in the ouster of Marcos but also in the restoration of democratic government to the Philippines. However, it remained a shaky superstructure.

What’s past is prologue, because the country has again seen rule by autocratic politicians since the election that brought Rodrigo Duterte to power in 2016. He ran on a populist platform and implemented a so-called War on Drugs that led to thousands of extra-legal deaths.

Duterte is facing an International Criminal Court investigation into crimes against humanity. Despite this, he retained the support of many in the Philippines, who see him as the man who tackled street crime and stood up to the country’s rich oligarchs.

Due to term limits, Duterte retired last year, and the 2022 presidential election saw Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, son of the late dictator, win the presidency in a landslide.

He gained 58.3 per cent of the vote in the May 9 balloting. Leni Robredo, the incumbent vice-president under Duterte, came a very distant second, with 28 per cent.

The young Marcos previously served in the Philippines House of Representatives and as governor of the family’s stronghold in the province of Ilocos Norte. He unsuccessfully ran for vice president in 2016.

His 2022 running mate, Sara Duterte, who is the new vice-president, is the daughter of outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte.

Rodrigo Duterte is close to the Marcos family and had Ferdinand Marcos buried in the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery when he took office. The families came together prior to the 2022 election and began a social media campaign to rebrand the old Marcos era as a golden age of crime-free prosperity.

The victorious pair were backed up by a host of powerful political names including former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who reportedly brokered their alliance, and the family of former president Joseph Estrada. They grouped together to oppose Robredo, who wanted to pass an anti-dynasty law.

According to a 2019 study by Manila’s Ateneo School of Government, about 80 per cent of governors belonged to “fat dynasties”, meaning clans with two or more members in power at the same. Political families also held 67 per cent of seats in the House of Representatives, and 53 per cent of mayoral posts

By staying away from all the presidential debates and refusing media interviews, Marcos also avoided having his family’s record challenged

The pro-Marcos propaganda campaign also benefited from widespread public disappointment over the failure of the post-1986 administrations to bring significant improvements to the lives of poorer Filipinos.

 “Judge me not by my ancestors, but by my actions,” Marcos said in a statement following his victory. But it is a blow to those in the Philippines who have campaigned for accountability for the abuses of the old Marcos era.