I’ve written before (and often) about the Duterte strategies that have kept him and this government afloat. When I did so, he was still awake most of the time, and not disappearing on us in times of tragedy, there was no major public health concern like COVID19, no volcanos exploding, no communities losing their homes and livelihood while the President slept.
We are undoubtedly in worse times now, and yet we still don’t get it.
Proof of that pudding? When Duterte declared the cancellation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). And what did we see? The members of the Left, supporting Duterte on this declaration, asserting that it is “just and necessary”, and the Liberal stalwarts putting it into question by highlighting this government’s pivot to China. On social media the rhetoric is vicious, where the discussion is limited to “tuta ng Kano” o “tuta ni Duterte”; where anyone who even so much as refuses to stand with Duterte on his VFA declaration is seen as a US-ally, or as an enabler of US Imperialism.
Probably the worst example of how terrible things are is Walden Bello attacking retired Justice Antonio Carpio for being on “the wrong side on the VFA issue.” But one must ask: is the Duterte side, the right side to be on?
And then you realize: even that question feeds into Duterte strategy. One that is so simple, so basic, that I can’t believe we still don’t have a handle on it: divide and conquer. Pick a divisive issue and watch the two sides of the opposition destroy each other, even more so, destroy any possibility of a united force versus Duterte. This is how Duterte keeps his head above water. We allow him.
We fail to consider for example, the pettiness that brought about this declaration of ending the VFA: his favorite alipin Bato dela Rosa losing his US Visa. We allow him to erase completely that the root of even that US visa cancellation is the injustice this government has done to Senator Leila de Lima, in a case that is based on nothing more but pure vindictiveness.
We decide to ignore the fact that across all his controversial Duterte declarations, from ending contractualization to catching the big fish in the drug business to ending corruption in the police force to raising minimum wage, etc. etc. ad infinitum, he has reneged on all of them. We refuse to even look at Duterte’s motives for these declarations and decisions, why he does what he does, where he comes from when he speaks. Certainly between the Left and the Liberals we can agree on some things at this point with regards the way Duterte is running this country four years in?
No?
Then that is why in this whole VFA discussion, what we see is Duterte winning. He provided the soundbite so his supporters can continue to believe he is a “nationalist.” He delivers that soundbite that China and Russia want to hear. He strokes his own ego: look at me standing against America! I’m so powerful! And he successfully draws a wider divide between the Left and the Liberals. And all of us who are neither Left nor Liberal are just exhausted.
In September 2019, the Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties (CLCL) was revived. Originally formed in 2006, during the presidency of Gloria Arroyo, it is no surprise that re-organizing this network of lawyers and law students is necessary in the time of Duterte, bringing together as convenors Rene Saguisag, Neri Colmenares, Erin Tañada, Chel Diokno, VP Jojo Binay, along with the deans of different law schools.
I remember it now, so many months after, because of what Integrated Bar of the Philippines President Domingo Egon Cayoso said at the re-launch. He said, that in the context of the the present political crises, what we should be looking at are not just the facts of a case, but the timing.
And in the case of Duterte, this bears repeating: the rhetoric he spews, the noise he makes, the soundbites we hear. These are not just well-strategized, these are well-timed.
And this seems to be an important thing to remember whenever he says something we might agree with in principle, such as the cancellation of the VFA. Because we should know better by now than just to jump at the opportunity to agree with him, to push for our anti-US anti-VFA stance. We should know by now that Duterte is all hot air, and says little that he means. We should know by now that Duterte taking a stand against the VFA does not mean he stands for Philippine sovereignty. (He has said as much in his last speech: either US territory of province of China.)
As for Walden Bello saying: “Duterte is, in my view, a mass murderer, but I would support his move to terminate the VFA and the EDCA with the United States. The man may be the devil incarnate but, hey, I won’t quibble about his motives.”
Here’s the thing, we should quibble. Because the moment we stop questioning Duterte’s motives, that moment is when he wins.
And maybe another reminder: what follows “Duterte is a mass murderer,” should never be a declaration of support.
At the very least, one hopes, that if we agree that he is a mass murderer, then we ask: what do we do next?