HOTSPOT
The dumping of dolomite in Manila Bay and the President’s address this week failed to distract or stop an international news agency from reporting a new Duterte “legacy.”
In a story read across the world, Agencia EFE reported:
“Manila reached six uninterrupted months of quarantine and is heading toward the world’s longest and strictest lockdown, with no end in sight, while efforts to contain the pandemic continue to fail in the Philippines, the center of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia.
“The Philippine capital has more than 144,000 cases, more than half of the country’s total (54 percent), indicating that the harsh confinement has not yielded the expected results in one of the most densely populated cities in the world.”
The presidential spokesman expectedly gave a spin to this historic new “achievement,” by capriciously announcing a rating of “85” to the administration’s response to the pandemic. Nobody cared, except the media that uncritically reported the self-serving and concocted rating.
In reality though, this is a sad time for fans of strongman tactics and advocates of unquestioning obedience to authority no matter what. Why? Both — strongman tactics and unquestioning obedience to authority no matter what — have obviously and miserably failed to protect us from the pandemic for six months now. We could actually argue that these brought and kept us in this quicksand of a situation for six months running.
The belief that a single person knows what’s best for the country (and that we should just blindly obey that person under the pain of punishment) is one that resonates this weekend on the 47th anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of martial law which established a dictatorship in 1972.
It resonates because in both Marcos’ and Duterte’s cases, they’re both failures at “saving” the Republic, and the people could see the rise in the fortunes of a privileged few at the expense of the many.
Criticizing the administration and drawing parallels with Marcos would have been difficult or impossible had Duterte won over the coronavirus pandemic. But he hasn’t. He has a supermajority in Congress and has packed the Supreme Court with his appointees. He had been given a free rein on almost everything, including control of trillions in taxpayer money. The full might of the state had also been unleashed on critics, even a woman who was fined for washing clothes in her own backyard.
Some politely argue that our problem is more about the president’s misplaced priorities. But do the passage of anti-terrorism law, the red-tagging and killings of activists, the legal assaults on Rappler, or the shutdown of ABS-CBN count as priorities, with or without a pandemic? I don’t think so. Neither do constitutionalists, civil libertarians, and human rights defenders.
More and more overseas Filipino workers (OFW) and other bastions of Duterte support are opening their eyes to the limitations of the belief in strongman rule. OFWs are familiar with their host countries’ response to the pandemic. They are valued there, taken care of, and witness activism in and out of government that provide stimulus to citizens and entrepreneurs. And the governments in many countries put science and the public health interest first, never giving up on the governments’ accountability to their citizens. Top officials found to have been violating health protocols or exhibiting even a whiff of incompetence or corruption have either resigned or were fired.
In an online forum, veteran street parliamentarian-turned-lawmaker Neri Colmenares responded to a question why he has not given up fighting for the good causes. To paraphrase him, it was all about two things: A sense of hope, and a sense of faith in the capacity of the Filipino people to chart their own destiny. It was a potent response to those who continue to harbor wet dreams about a strongman single-handedly saving a country of cowards.
The commemoration of Marcos’ martial law declaration is thus important and relevant. If we don’t take action, we can expect that 47 years later, historical revisionists would tell of a great leader who put dolomite on Manila Bay and kept the best health secretary and best Metro Manila police chief amid a pandemic. That we enjoyed these times like they were the best. The longest lockdown was the most joyous times of our lives. These narratives should be nipped by the bud and challenged.
(The Movement Against Tyranny and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan invite everyone to twin events on Sept. 21 — wreath-laying at 9 a.m. at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, and a mass demonstration, with physical distancing, at 4 p.m. at the University of the Philippines.)