The Duterte Regime's Cruel Embrace of Covid-Authoritarianism

Covid-19 continues to fill the news, while the horrors inflicted by pandemic panic are largely ignored. Perhaps nowhere is this truer than with America’s largest former territory and Asia’s first democracy, the Philippines. There President Rodrigo Duterte has declared martial law in all but name and established himself as dictator of the world’s 12^th largest country. Soldiers patrol the streets on foot and in armored personnel carriers to enforce what’s probably the fiercest and longest-lasting lockdown in the world – and with no end in sight.

But relax. It’s okay, because it’s in the name of protecting his people from the dreaded virus. It’s a Covidocracy! And one that could not be possible without the complicity of lending agencies and donors from around the world who appear to care nothing about the Filipino people.

Duterte ran on a get-tough platform, with an extended fist as his salute and he ran in the right country to do it, with Filipinos said to be suffering from “democracy fatigue.” (In a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, more than 80% of Filipinos preferred a decisive and strong-willed leader who neglects institutional checks and balances.) In something of a break with tradition, Duterte didn’t wait for others to compare him to Hitler but did so himself. But lest there be doubt about his political leanings, he was avowedly leftist and anti-American before taking office.

Duterte was elected primarily for vowing to get tough on the nation’s severe drug problem by murdering both pushers and users. He’s been true to his world – and then some. “Since Duterte was elected to the presidency in 2016, more than 27,000 suspected drug peddlers have been killed in a mix of police operations and vigilante killings,” according to Deutsche Welle. But “Additionally, almost 250 human rights defenders — including unionists, lawyers, journalists and environmental rights defenders — have been killed.”

Yet he waited for the cover of the Covid-19 pandemic to establish a full dictatorship. He probably predicted that to the extent there would be world criticism of his handling of the crisis, it would say it was merely errors in combatting the “greatest health disaster” of our time. If so, he was correct. Nobody tells you, notwithstanding readily accessible data, that while the government is destroying the country, the virus here is a pussycat. The death rate is merely 5% that of the U.S. (Yes, including the usual homicides, accidents et al. declared as coronavirus.) It doesn’t begin to approach that of tuberculosis, for which there are both cures and a vaccine.

Nonetheless, under the cover of the Covid-19 “disaster” the government here:

• Denied a license renewalto a major anti-Duterte television network, ABS-CBN, a year after Duterte swore “If you are expecting [a renewal], ‘I’m sorry. You’re out. I will see to it that you’re out.”
  
  ·       Just days later found guilty celebrated Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa for “cyber libel” for an article by her publication, Rappler. Not only didn’t she not write it, the article appeared two years before the law was even passed. Even as she awaits sentencing she’s been accused of tax evasion and been hit with yet another cyber libel charge, this time for a Tweet. Appeals are worthless; over two-thirds of the highest court members here are Duterte appointees.

• Then for good measure on July 3 our Dear Leader signed the “anti-terrorism bill” that Aljazeerasays “is strikingly similar to the draconian security legislation China imposed on Hong Kong.” According to Rappler, it “permits warrantless arrests and allows authorities to detain individuals for weeks without charge, surveillance for up to 90 days, and mandates punishment as severe as lifetime imprisonment without parole.” Even a social media posting may make you a terrorist, while additionally Duterte operates what are called “troll farms” to try to shut up those not outright arrested.

• Pivoted foreign policy away from the U.S. and towards China, even as China imposed dictatorship on Hong Kong. At first Duterte sought to abrogate a mutual defense treaty with the U.S. though that’s now on hold.In late July he appeared to essentially cede Filipino possessions in the South China sea to Beijing, and just this month he barred his military from participating in US-led multinational exercises in the South China Sea in what one former Filipino senator called “clearly a pro-China foreign policy.” He has even “joked” about making the country a Chinese province, which is all the less funny if you know he uses “jokes” to test the waters. His spokesman has also applauded China’s building of artificial islands in Filipino coastal waters.

As for the lockdowns, many of the rules are simply about control – of the people, not the virus. Thus masks are mandatory whenever outside the house, far from pleasant in a country with brutal heat and humidity. Think you can drop them when in the middle of nowhere? Beware the drones, or soldiers who sneak up from behind on motorbikes. In parts of the country mandatory facial shields plus masks are required, a first in the world.

There’s a nighttime curfew everywhere, a Sunday curfew depending on the level of quarantine, and everyone under 20 and over 60 (about 45% of the population) has been locked in the house for over six months now, unless they can show necessity per each trip. Never mind that young people are the least likely to get, suffer from, or spread the virus.

The Philippine National Police recorded more than 260,000 “‘curfew and disobedience violators,’ including some 76,000 arrests, between March 17 and July 25,” reported The Washington Post. But the country’s Commission on Human Rights has also received more than 900 complaints over almost the same period in the Manila metro area alone, many involving alleged torture or inhumane treatment, arrests and detention.

Some areas are more authoritarian than others because of decisions by Duterte or lower-level politicians. The country’s second-largest city, Cebu is technically two levels below the highest stage of quarantine. Yet a new law makes violations punishable by 30 days in jail – along with other penalties.

Public transportation is banned under the most severe levels of quarantine, and few Filipinos can afford private cars. Taxis and their version of ride-sharing are also banned under the more severe levels, while private vehicles are allowed on the road just three days a week. Traffic spreads virus, you know. Motorcycle taxis were popular both for relative cheapness and speed in getting around the thick traffic that plagues the larger metro areas. They are banned. There are vastly fewer quarantine passes than people and two members of the same household can’t go out together. Except under the lightest quarantine level, gyms along with theaters and bars are closed if they don’t pay bribes. Internet cafes and libraries cannot, and mass in this highly-Catholic country is forbidden.

Further, any area can be instantly set back to a higher level of quarantine – as indeed happened in the two largest metro areas – upon the “advice” of Duterte’s rump commission.

As in other countries, part of the control is instilling fear of the government and part is instilling fear of the virus. And granted, part is sheer stupidity. While many educated Filipinos and expats know exactly what’s going on, other Filipinos have been so terrified that they wouldn’t leave their homes even if they could. (“Not until the Covid is over!”) Others wear two masks at once, plus a face shield. And now the interior minister is telling them to wear masks even inside those homes.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

All this, naturally, has devastated the country’s economy and continues to do so with many businesses even in areas at the lightest level of quarantine unable to open, able to open at a capacity level too low to be profitable, or unable to get enough clientele anyway because people can’t reach them. Many businesses have announced they will never re-open.

The Philippine Statistics Authority says the economy contracted 16.5% from April to June compared to the previous year, the most since records have been kept and the most in Asia. It will keep contracting. Unemployment went from the lowest level in 14 years to the highest level on record. The presidential spokesman said it was over 45%, vastly higher than U.S. unemployment during the Great Depression. (But he added reassuringly that it could have been worse; it could have been 100%.) Over a fifth of Filipinos say they are going hungry for lack of food.

Foreign tourism, which had accounted for almost 13% of GDP and was growing, has been banned. Plans for re-opening approach insanity, with the governor of the 2^nd-most populated island proposing visitors be forced to pay for wearing bracelet monitors to track them – Big Brother on your wrist. Obviously, tourists will find other destinations and for many they will become permanent.

THE CORRUPTION MACHINE

So in addition to sheer stupidity and authoritarianism, what is the purpose of all this?

Mainly corruption. Along with a constant solicitation of bribes to remain in business or not be incarcerated, this has been the primary scheme:

The Philippines has no “safety net” like the U.S., much less that of most European nations. There’s no welfare, food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, rent subsidies, no nada. Salaries are incredibly low, ensuring that most workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. Therefore, for the self-created “emergency” the government passed legislation calling for sending food and money down to governors, thence to mayors and thence barangay (neighborhood) captains to be distributed to people who literally might otherwise starve. Politicians take a cut at every level, and one common tactic is for barangay captains to simply deny support for people who came from other areas to work. I know several people thus cheated, plus a man whose family was denied support because they didn’t vote for the barangay captain. He protested and for his troubles was shot to death.

At one point, it looked like the game would have to end since the government was out of money. That’s when the international community stepped in and extended the agony with long-term “loans” and donations that don’t go directly to the people but rather to the Little Dictator. So far that’s over $8.13 billion, in addition to using the offshore commercial debt market according to the publication PhilStar Global. Add to that 200 billion pesos (about $US 8.2 billion) in emergency funding from the government itself authorized in March, and you have over $16 billion available.

Yet earlier this month Duterte made the startling announcement that the cupboard was bare. “I cannot give food anymore and money to people.” Where did it all go? Hint: The nation’s previous dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, is thought to have stolen between $5-10 billion from 1965 to 1972.

Duterte may already have beaten that mark. Nevertheless, nobody in the local media wants to be declared a terrorist or summarily executed as a drug dealer for looking into this seeming discrepancy, while nobody in the international media wants to criticize alleged “do-gooder” lenders. If the ostensible purpose is to “fight” Covid-19, that’s good enough.

NO END IN SIGHT

As to when the lockdown might end, are you ready? December, Duterte said. Well… actually he said both “I promise you” and “I hope” in the same sentence. Oh, and he tied it to release of a vaccine. Most recently that’s a Russian one, volunteering Filipinos (himself excluded) to become the guinea pigs for something we know little about except that it lacks adequate testing. (Maybe “Hitler” has become Mengele.)

Or the lockdown may simply never end, as Ressa worries. Constant talk of “The New Normal” and signs above quarantine check points declaring “One New Governance” are ominous. But the key may be when Duterte thinks he’s wrung every last dollar out of foreign contributions. And  sure enough the World Bank has stepped up to prolong the agony with a pledge in mid-August of another $1.9 billion, while the Japan International Cooperation Agency has just kicked in almost half a billion dollars, declaring “We admire the tireless effort and the leadership shown by the Philippine government to tackle the unprecedented challenges posed by the spread of COVID-19.” As Filipinos are wont to say: “Oh my God!”

So did Il Duterte announce the aid spigot to the people would be reopened? Ha! As Joe Biden might say, “C’mon man!” If you gave food to the people they’d probably just eat it. Absolutely nobody seems concerned with what ultimately happens to their money any more than during the Marcos period. Not incidentally, the Philippines is expected to be paying back those Marcos loans until 2025. Duterte, likewise, will be happily nestled in his grave before these are paid back.

It’s time to stop catering to wicked people who trade the promise of safety from a relatively mild disease for autocracy, even if it’s less than a full-fledged dictatorship. “We have to be careful,” wrote Ressa in Time way back in mid-April, that the measures we are taking to tackle this global crisis don’t bring about another one: the death of democracy as we know it.”