Cleansing our palates of Duterte
I adored Davao during my first visit—the fruits, the cleanliness, the people. But the trip quickly turned sinister when the taxi driver asked me if I had heard the “good news” delivered by former President Rodrigo Duterte. He said that Duterte was a prophet sent by Elijah to prepare our souls for the second coming of Christ.
I recall that day again, after seeing the video online of an elderly woman in The Hague compelling Duterte’s cutout—in both jest and delirium—to arise, shine, and stand up. They had such sincere faith that Duterte could feel their trials and alleviate their tribulations. Their messiah had truly come to kill their enemies, as it were.
I think about how Jesus told his apostles how mistaken they were when they believed the same thing. I am more keen on believing that God planned Duterte’s International Criminal Court (ICC) hearings to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the People Power Revolution. As if to ask us to confess our deepest sins and to compel us to be our better, forgiven selves.
Duterte’s greatest asset was that he held a mirror to us. Maybe it is the truth. Maybe we do not value each other’s lives as sincerely as we thought we did. Maybe we do not want with such fervency the flourishing of each and every Filipino. This is our lack as a society.
But Duterte’s greatest sin is that he said we were irredeemable. And when one is believed to be irredeemable, unforgivable, then Duterte tells us the only way is to kill each other—figuratively and literally. The war on drugs, the crass, mean, vicious online trolls that fill our comments sections are part of the same continuum of devaluing the lives of our fellow Filipinos.
Perhaps in the difficulties and confusion of the times, the idea of a Digong messiah, prophet, “tatay” might seem so comforting. But when Nicholas Kaufman bid the ICC to return tatay to us, it was infantilizing, diminishing, almost mocking—as if we were pathetic adult-infants in a tantrum.
I can’t help but think: My God, we need to grow some spine! We need to pull ourselves together. The only way to cleanse our palates of Duterte is to rebuild our collective self-esteem, to fortify our belief in our capacity to take up the mantle of governance ourselves. We still have our hands, our feet, our voices, our hearts, our minds. We have to believe in our ability to change, to be redeemed, and to take care of each other. There is no other choice!
Amid all this talk about 2028, perhaps we should think deeper about our ordinary lives made unbearable. About the things we want that are, in truth, mundane—proper transportation, a dignified job and wage, open spaces, affordable health care, and some sense of relief. Why is it too much to ask for? Perhaps it is because we are asking the wrong people.
Instead of simply outsourcing our political power each election to a candidate, we should be negotiating for greater ways to strengthen our role in our own democracy. There are initial concrete policies that can make this possible.
A Freedom of Information Act will give ordinary citizens the leverage to assert our needs for government projects to have a real impact. When information becomes truly accessible, any Filipino can monitor and evaluate government action. Rather than mere numbers, citizens can determine the metrics of success to include the perceived impact on their quality of life. Documents that play a role in hiding corruption, such as public officials’ statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth and procurement bids, will now be completely open, without any corners to hide. The act should mandate an independent task force dedicated to making information understandable and easily findable, and a civil society organization-led oversight body that can conduct transparency compliance audits on agencies, review request denials, and impose administrative sanctions.
We should demand that the devolution agenda be rolled out fully and clearly so that there are delineated responsibilities between the national, local, and municipal governments. Fiscal gaps, weak accountability and transparency mechanisms, and poor coordination between government bodies create bureaucratic opacity that conceals the gross misuse of funds. This makes it impossible to track whether the funds are being used as intended and declared.
And since the opportunity presented during the 1986 revolution, the stars have never been better aligned again for an antidynasty law until now. All signs point to the collapse of these dynasties that have touted themselves like royalty for decades. All symptoms point to them as the source of our illness and deterioration. But an Anti-Dynasty Act does more than remove dynasties; it legitimizes ordinary people’s active participation in government. This is the course correction we need. No longer should we be captivated by the empty promises of any self-proclaimed prophet or savior.
We, the people, must seize this moment. We can correct our palates, redeem ourselves, and earn each other’s trust again. Pass the antidynasty law now!
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Eugenie R. Huibonhoa is an independent researcher-writer and policy adviser.
