HENRY SREBRNIK: Philippines election: Back to the Future
HENRY SREBRNIK • Visitor Opinion
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science on the College of Prince Edward Island.
Waves appear to maneuver by way of an ocean, but the water all the time returns to its relaxation place, for the reason that particles actually journey in circles. So it’s a sort of optical phantasm.
That is an apt metaphor for politics within the Philippines, now {that a} Marcos is again in energy.
Filipinos are a Malay individuals who have a political tradition distinctive to southeast Asia. Apart from within the southern island of Mindanao, the place there’s a Muslim inhabitants, the overwhelming majority are Roman Catholics.
Spanish colonial rule within the Philippines, the nation named for King Philip II of Spain, started in 1565, with the arrival of an expedition from Mexico. It additionally noticed the introduction of Christianity.
The Philippines was dominated beneath the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain, an important hyperlink between Spain’s American empire and its Asian and South Pacific possessions, till Mexico grew to become unbiased in 1821. After that, the colony was instantly ruled by Spain.
As a result of it was beneath Spanish rule for 333 years, the Philippines has many affinities with Latin America, together with its political tradition.
The archipelago grew to become an American possession after the 1898 Spanish-American Battle and was beneath U.S. tutelage for an additional 48 years, till granted independence in 1946. This added a veneer of democracy to its political buildings.
The nation was wracked by political turmoil within the final quarter of the twentieth century. After enduring greater than a decade of authoritarian rule beneath President Ferdinand Marcos, the Folks Energy motion in 1986 led a cold rebellion towards his regime.
Marcos had declared martial regulation in 1972 and took management of the nation’s courts, companies and media. The military and police arrested and tortured hundreds of dissidents. The years that adopted had been one of many darkest intervals within the nation’s historical past, with widespread human rights abuses.
Marcos, his spouse Imelda, and his cronies plundered an estimated $10 billion from public funds whereas hundreds of thousands of individuals lived in excessive poverty. They fled to Hawaii the place Ferdinand Marcos died in exile three years later.
The 1986 rebellion resulted not solely within the ouster of Marcos but additionally within the restoration of democratic authorities to the Philippines. Nonetheless, it remained a shaky superstructure.
What’s previous is prologue, as a result of the nation has once more seen rule by autocratic politicians for the reason that election that introduced Rodrigo Duterte to energy in 2016. He ran on a populist platform and carried out a so-called Battle on Medicine that led to hundreds of extra-legal deaths.
Duterte is going through an Worldwide Felony Court docket investigation into crimes towards humanity. Regardless of this, he retained the help of many within the Philippines, who see him as the person who tackled road crime and stood as much as the nation’s wealthy oligarchs.
Because of time period limits, Duterte retired final 12 months, and the 2022 presidential election noticed Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, son of the late dictator, win the presidency in a landslide.
He gained greater than 30.8 million votes, good for greater than 66 per cent, within the Might 9 balloting. Leni Robredo, the incumbent vice-president beneath Duterte, got here a really distant second, with 25 per cent.
The younger Marcos beforehand served within the Philippines Home of Representatives and as governor of the household’s stronghold within the province of Ilocos Norte. He unsuccessfully ran for vp in 2016.
His 2022 operating mate, Sara Duterte, who’s the brand new vice-president, is the daughter of outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte.
Rodrigo Duterte is near the Marcos household and had Ferdinand Marcos buried within the nation’s Heroes’ Cemetery when he took workplace. The households got here collectively previous to the 2022 election and started a social media marketing campaign to rebrand the previous Marcos period as a golden age of crime-free prosperity.
By staying away from all of the presidential debates and refusing media interviews, Marcos additionally prevented having his household’s report challenged.
The professional-Marcos propaganda marketing campaign additionally benefited from widespread public disappointment over the failure of the post-1986 administrations to convey important enhancements to the lives of poorer Filipinos.
“Decide me not by my ancestors, however by my actions,” Marcos stated in an announcement following his victory. However it’s a blow to these within the Philippines who’ve campaigned for accountability over the abuses of the previous Marcos period.
