Rodrigo Roa Duterte denies that he is a strongman, contrary to the allegations of a TIME Magazine cover story, dated May 3, 2018, that classifies him as among the world’s strongmen.
In the Philippine milieu, a “strongman” is a dictator, one who get things done, by hook or by crook, and willy nilly violates people’s human rights, like press freedom, the right to assemble to seek redress for grievances, liberty, the right to travel (passports that take six months to process I think are a violation of this right), the right not to be arrested or jailed without arrest warrant, the right to confront witnesses, among other rights.
These rights are enshrined in the Bill of Rights but are routinely violated—by the police, by the military, and political warlords, especially in the provinces and remote areas where media is not strong and pervasive, where the Catholic Church is quiet and timid, where the Left is not organized, and where unions are not strong and articulate.
A basic premise of strongman rule is having a loyal, well-paid and well-equipped police and military. When those circumstances are pervasive, you have what you call a police state and the man ruling the place is called a strongman or a dictator. Strongmen also have a tendency to perpetuate themselves, thru hereditary succession or by rigging elections.
Ferdinand Marcos was the typical Filipino strongman. He ruled for 20 years (December 1965-February 1986), the longest of any Philippine president, 14 of them under martial rule during which he was a one-man Congress, ruling by decree and executive order.
To be fair, Marcos achieved rice sufficiency, built more infrastructure than all previous presidents before him, enforced an honest-to-goodness agrarian reform, solved the most severe energy crisis at the time, coped with most crippling foreign currency crisis, prevented the communists and Muslim separatists from dismembering the republic, and gave his countrymen a sense of purpose, vision, and their place in the family of nations.
Then Marcos got sick in 1982. An ambitious would-be successor was assassinated in 1983, while Marcos was recovering from two kidney transplants in two days. Marcos was ousted in 1986 and died in exile, a broken man, in 1989. Rewriting or correcting history, President Duterte ordered Marcos’s burial, as a soldier and hero, at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The beauty of the internet and globalization is that every ruler, dictator or strongman, now has a day of reckoning. He cannot escape prosecution, the retribution of justice, or at the very least, the harsh judgement of history. How does not a strongman or a dictator escape a harsh judgement?
Well, write your own history. Revise school curricula to institutionalize your legacy. Have your own pool of loyal supporters and believers, including captive ones in the media that you helped put up or create.
In claiming he is not a strongman, Duterte points out Filipinos are free to criticize him. He insists that he has never sent anybody to jail for criticizing him.
“Kaya ako, andiyan ngayon sa Time Magazine, isa daw ako sa mga strongman. Hindi naman ako strongman,” the President said in his speech May 4, at SMX Convention Center here during the 37th Philippine Principals Training and Development Program and National Board Conference. “Kailan pa ba ako naghari-hari dito sa Pilipinas?” [When did I become king in this country?],” he asked, amusedly.
The Time Magazine article, written by Ian Bremmer, narrates that “we are now in the strongman era.” The Time cover, which came out on May 3, featured President Duterte, along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It writes:
“In the Philippines, a rising tide of violent street crime helped elect Rodrigo Duterte, a former mayor who talked more like a Mob boss than a President, on his promises to wipe out the drug trade with his own brand of justice.”
“This [strongman] trend is not confined to the US In every region of the world, changing times have boosted public demand for more muscular, assertive leadership. These tough-talking populists promise to protect “us” from “them.” Depending on who’s talking, “them” can mean the corrupt elite or the grasping poor; foreigners or members of racial, ethnic or religious minorities. Or disloyal politicians, bureaucrats, bankers or judges. Or lying reporters. Out of this divide, a new archetype of leader has emerged. We’re now in the strongman era.”
“Perhaps the most prominent of these can be found in Russia. After the fall of the Soviet Union fed fears of economic chaos and political impotence, Vladimir Putin answered the call for a restoration of the Russia that had been the center of an empire for three centuries. He has promised to wave away Western vultures that would pick Russia clean by making trouble in neighboring states like Ukraine. Putin, a 65-year-old man in a country with a male life expectancy of 64, embodies an image of Russian virility and swagger.”
“Strongmen can also be seen across Asia. In China, memories of Tiananmen traumas and the horror of the Soviet collapse have pushed the Communist Party to keep a tight hold on dissent. In power since 2012, Xi Jinping has used an anti corruption campaign to sideline potential rivals while consolidating power on a historic scale. He has announced the dawn of a “new era” for China, or a golden age of expansion that will bring his country to the global center stage. And recently, he erased presidential term limits. The era of rule by party consensus is finished, at least for now. There can be no doubt about who’s in charge.”
Reacting, Duterte said: “And for all I care, ‘yung security guard, police, general, o NPA o si Sison or a teacher or a gardener can criticize me… I will take that.” “I am just a government worker,” he added. “Kayo ‘yung nagsusweldo eh sa akin. Ngayon, okay sa akin ‘yun na ‘yung magsigaw sila diyan Gabriela, go ahead. You use your freedom of expression,” he further said.
Duterte stressed that he will never agree to take criticisms from foreign nationals. “Pero kung foreigner ka, that is another thing,” he said.
Amazingly, despite record high inflation in five years, President Duterte’s approval ratings remain very high. In the past, if the incumbent administration ran out of rice, it would lose the next election.
Duterte has created a new middle class—our soldiers (140,000), our policemen (194,000), and our teachers (244,000). This class of wage earners now makes an average of P40,000 a month ($769 a current peso-dollar rate) or P520,000 a year (13 months times P40,000). These people become millionaires every other year.
Without anybody looking, Duterte has become the Philippines’ most powerful President ever. If he can deliver on the economy, I would have no problem with Duterte as a strongman. He may be an SOB, but he is our SOB.
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