The Economist: ‘Dutertes resurgent’
FIRST published 182 years ago, the London-based The Economist has built up a track record as the voice of the West’s ruling class, now mostly with the neoliberal, globalist and centrist ideological stance. It is the political and economic bible for most of our own elite, since, busy as they are, the magazine’s weekly format gives them a succinct view of what’s going on in the world, of course, through the lens of that neoliberal (read: anti-populist, anti-Marxist ideology).
In that context, I found The Economist article published on Aug. 14 revealing, and even a kind of writing on the wall, to use that biblical phrase. The piece was titled “What Sara Duterte’s comeback means for the Philippines,” with the drophead “She could be the front-runner for the election in 2028.” It was Philippine Star’s Boo Chanco, who alerted me about the article through his column. Boo, a longtime Marcos basher, couldn’t hide his glee over the piece, titling his column “Risking exile.” He explained this intriguing title when he wrote that The Economist piece “should scare the daylights out of BBM because if that happens, he and his family will have to go on exile before Sara’s inauguration.”
No wonder the government official who writes a column in this paper scrambled (probably ASAP ordered by his bosses) to come up with a piece claiming that the idea of an “unstoppable Sara Duterte” is a myth.
Nobody’s claiming Sara is unstoppable; there’s even an adage that says “a week is a long time in politics.” What more with 33 months to go until the 2028 May elections.
Nobody’s claiming a myth, only the well-reasoned, realistic conclusion that at this point in time, Sara is a shoo-in for the presidency. No other candidate comes close, with a recent WR Numero poll showing that 31 percent of Filipinos would vote for Sara, far ahead of the really lackluster Leni Robredo at 13 percent and the nemesis of corrupt small-time bureaucrats and policemen, Raffy Tulfo, at 10 percent.
That column by the government official even misinterprets data to show that Sara’s support is weak, claiming that an OCTA poll showed only 26 percent of Filipinos agreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling junking the impeachment attempt against her. If he just bothered to read the OCTA poll’s questionnaire, he’d conclude that many disagreed with the high court’s ruling because they felt the trial would have been a chance to prove her detractors wrong. The German philosopher Nietzsche’s adage certainly applies to Sara: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Watch the strategic-thinking politicians move toward Sara’s camp.
Only the US Deep State can engineer a plot to prevent Sara from becoming president in 2028. The US military-industrial complex and its biggest conglomerates have too much to lose with a Sara victory.
She is likely to end the Philippines’ vassalage to the US, the last country in Southeast Asia to do so. The Philippines has become a deterrent — or at least a big headache — to China’s forcible takeover of its rogue state Taiwan. The US has also managed to create a myth that China will invade the Philippines, or at least take over the islands and reefs it now occupies in the South China Sea, driving its citizens to Sinophobic frenzy to the extent of being willing to be America’s brownnosers.
I am not exaggerating to state: We are at a crucial moment in our history, Sara’s defeat in the 2028 elections, and the success of the Marcos-Romualdez plot to prevent her from running (through a second impeachment attempt in February 2028) will mean our continued puppetry to the US, one of the biggest factors for our underdevelopment for the next two decades.
The Economist article however erred because of its handicap of not having correspondents on the ground to give its editors — mostly academicians, as I found out a decade ago — a more concrete feel of reality. It claimed that Sara’s following is due to the country’s dynastic political system and to its personality-oriented electoral outcomes.
Sara may undoubtedly have profited from those factors. Sara, however, had earned her own following because of her unflinching struggle against the attacks against her and her father by the corrupt Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Her strength is that of her father: they’ve connected with the masses so tightly that the people see them as their father, and in Sara’s case, their elder sister. She and her father have developed charisma, something last seen by Filipinos in then-president Ramon Magsaysay in the 1950s, a perception that lasts through generations.
Following is
The Economist piece:
“A few months ago, things looked grim for Sara Duterte, the vice president of the Philippines. The country’s House of Representatives had impeached her, accusing Ms. Duterte of misusing public money and threatening to assassinate the president, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos. She faced a ban from politics if convicted of the charges in a trial in the Senate. Then the International Criminal Court indicted her father, Rodrigo, for crimes against humanity committed in a brutal drug war during his presidency (he denies this). The Duterte dynasty looked like it was over.
“Yet the family now seems on the up. The Supreme Court struck down the impeachment complaints against Ms. Duterte in late July. A couple of weeks later, the Senate voted not to proceed with a trial for now. These wins make Ms. Duterte likely to be the front-runner to be the Philippines’ next president, in 2028. It also means that over the next three years, her nasty feud with Mr. Marcos, also a scion of a political clan with a grubby history, will become even more disruptive for the country.
“Ms. Duterte typifies the Philippines’ dynastic political system, where powerful families make up around 80 percent of Congress, one of the highest shares in the world. She first took office in 2007 as vice mayor of Davao, a city where her father was elected mayor eight times. The family name helped her win the vice presidency in the 2022 election, during which she formed an uneasy partnership with Mr. Marcos.
“She also thrives in a political culture dominated by big personalities. Celebrities are often elected in the Philippines, and politicians play up to the crowds on social media and in real life. At a recent election rally in Manila, the capital, the mood felt more like a rock concert, with her supporters wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the words ‘Bring Him [Rodrigo] Home’ (from The Hague).
“Her views appear to be similar to her father’s. She has criticized Mr. Marcos for tilting toward America and said that the Philippines ‘shouldn’t lean toward any foreign power.’ Still, it is not clear whether and how far she would, or could, reorient the country toward China, which her father cozied up to. Ties with America are stronger now than in 2016, when Mr. Duterte took office. In late July, Mr. Marcos secured a trade deal with America. Philippine exports face a tariff of 19 percent. This is only one percentage point lower than Donald Trump’s threat before the agreement, but Mr. Marcos still billed it as a win.
“Yet with the Dutertes resurgent — for now at least — the dynastic dispute could disrupt the second half of Mr. Marcos’ presidency. Ms. Duterte has a growing number of allies in Congress. They may try to obstruct Mr. Marcos, who cannot run again because of term limits. As a result, he could become a lame duck if enough politicians rally behind her.”
Facebook: Rigoberto Tiglao
X: @bobitiglao
Archives: www.rigobertotiglao.com
Book orders: www.rigobertotiglao.com/shop
The post The Economist: ‘Dutertes resurgent’ first appeared on Rigoberto Tiglao.
The Economist: ‘Dutertes resurgent’
Source: Breaking News PH
No comments: