This May a political milestone will be reached without anyone noticing. It will be twenty one years since Erap Estrada’s election as president. He won with the largest plurality ever attained up until then, using a populist slogan, “Erap para sa mahirap” (Erap for the poor).
Estrada’s presidency was brief, cut short by his own doing. Had it continued, Erap would have designated Fernando Poe, Jr (FPJ) to succeed him. Both were dispatched by the iron lady Gloria Arroyo who toppled Erap and out-maneuvered FPJ in a subsequent election.
Despite his brief stint as president, one lasting legacy of Erap is the present disdain for civil society. If his rise was fuelled by a populism, exploiting class resentments, his fall was marked by a response equally resentful of elite condescension toward those whose values are deemed primitive.
Fast-forward twenty years and we are ruled by another populist in Rodrigo Duterte who has revived the culture wars stoked in Erap’s wake.
This war is directed at those who claim to uphold democratic values, but undermine duly elected officials whose views run counter to theirs. Support comes from large swathes of our population who support his illiberal governance style.
An illiberal democracy is a state where free elections determine who rules, but where democratic mandates are used to violate constitutional rights of certain citizens, normally belonging to minority, ethnic groups. In the Philippines, the focus has been on suspected drug offenders.
Anyone who presses for the protection of their civil rights is tarred with the same brush, treated as an enemy of the state.
Duterte’s electoral victory is used to justify a deadly anti-narcotics operation nationwide. This has resulted in thousands of deaths, under questionable circumstances, according to human rights advocates.
Duterte and his followers have adopted a Hobbesian view where citizens enter a social contract for mutual preservation. In exchange for sacrifices made by citizens, like paying taxes and surrendering some freedoms, rulers establish order, using the terror of violence to punish those who trespass the rights of others within the community.
Post-EDSA administrations prior to Duterte seemed unable to uphold this part of the bargain. This is why voters saw it fit to throw out of office the so-called “yellow forces” for paying too much respect to civil liberties, not enough to establishing civic responsibilities.
Extrajudicial killings (EJK) carried out in full view are not meant to render justice. They are purposefully done to provide irrefutable proof that the ruler is performing his end of the deal. That is why Duterte has publicly owned up to the “sin” of EJKs.
This isn’t Erap’s populism anchored on class antagonism. It harks back to a pre-Enlightenment era where the legitimacy of rulers was based on their ability to preserve the peace.
The opposition may harp on about his dictatorial tendencies to de-legitimize him. But, majority of Filipinos, as indicated in opinion polls disagree with his methods, but see them as necessary. Those who oppose Duterte will have to provide viable alternatives.
That means demonstrating somewhere that liberal governments can protect communities from social ills. This is why Duterte’s labeling of Naga a haven for drugs needs to be addressed by the Liberal Party led by Vice President Leni Robredo who hails from there.
The tag “coddler of drug lords” sticks in a post-facts world. Robredo who showed an openness to the Portuguese model of decriminalizing drug use to deal with addiction, has not effectively laid out a solid case for it.
Her “Ahon Laylayan Koalisyon” (Rise up from the fringes coalition) isn’t creating a bandwagon effect like “Jeep ni Erap” (Erap’s Jeep). Other Liberals like Senator Bam Aquino seem more interested in taking pot shots at Duterte’s tax reforms. Bam, who previously banked on his “aquino-ness”, now suffers a drag in the polls due to that association.
Until the opposition addresses its law and order deficit, none of its appeals to economic populism will cut through. This is a war fought on cultural grounds. It will have to win the argument on Duterte’s turf, before it can regain legitimacy in people’s eyes to be entrusted with the reins of power again.
