Duterte's War on Oligarchy: At What Expense?

Duterte’s War on Oligarchy: At What Expense? by Shifa T.Naeem

Have you ever wondered how politicians remain rich for decades? Or how political dynasties are apparently the only rich families in the country? I remember watching a Filipino TV show called Wildflower, where the protagonist and her family decided to live in a fictional city called Ardente, which is known to have a 0% crime rate. Thinking that it would be the start to a brighter future, it turned out to be the worst decision they have ever made. Ardente was named after the mayor and her family, who turned out to be one of the most corrupt political dynasties that commits blackmail, assassinations, rape, and injustice among their enemies, whether it is in Ardente or a foreign place. In order to maintain a 0% crime rate, they would abuse their power and commit endless crimes, one of which was killing the father and raping the mother of the protagonist. Yet, the mayor’s family was idolized by the citizens due to their false representation of themselves as being kind and righteous leaders. Now, you might think that this type of story can only occur in the fictional world. On the contrary, it can be seen in our nation today, in the form of oligarchies. Oligarchy is defined as the political rule of a small political class over the country. It refers to a group of people or families that holds control over the country’s economy or the entire nation. This small groups of people are for the most part wealthy political families.

When it comes to eliminating the oligarchy issue within our nation. There are two opposing sides. One of which is President Duterte’s elimination of the oligarchies by putting them completely out of power without a just reason. This can be seen in the ABS-CBN cancellation of their franchise. Duterte emphasized the problematic components of the oligarchs by saying, “They obtain government contracts using political connection and engage in illegal activities to gain an advantage such as insider trading.” Due to political dynasties being a common practice in the nation, it easily increases the likelihood for the occurrence of oligarchy in the nation. The oligarchy has been a feature of our country for more than a hundred years. They are multifaced, wearing different faces at different times. Not all oligarchs are Duterte’s enemies nor are all the enemies of the people. Duterte is after the leeches that would suck the lifeblood out of the people, and unjustly prosper themselves and their allies, who are in levels of the government or the bureaucracy.

On the other hand, the motives of the President are being criticized by Filipino citizens. According to the Ateneo De Manila Department of Political Science, his public attacks are “selective at best and duplicitous at worse.” They have emphasized that if Duterte wants to end oligarchy, he shouldn't be targeting specific families and befriending others. Instead, he should focus on the political concentration of power and realize that political dynasties are proliferating than ever before, and thus increasing competition could be a solution. Furthermore, according to Sen. Francis Drilon, Duterte’s initiative of dismantling the oligarchy is just a hoax, and instead, the ordinary lives of ordinary Filipinos are being dismantled. It is through structural reform of the existing laws, which allows the oligarchy to persist, is the way to dismantle the oligarchy.

The oligarchy is a rising political problem within our nation for decades. Instead of solving the root of the problem which is the lack of laws against the proliferation of political dynasties and oligarchies, the government is concentrated on eliminating the problem which would feed into the roots and result to irreversible negative changes in the future. As citizens, we are partly in fault for the continuous prosperity and expansion of oligarchies. We have to know who we are voting for, with intentions that benefit the nation as a whole instead of our own greed and worldly vain desires. We should be more politically inclined into the problem of our nation and participate in the simplest ways of possible to help solve the issues. Such as voting legibly, teaching the importance of politics to the youth, speaking against injustice and having an abstract idea of our constitution. For knowledge is power. The TV show Wildflower ended with the protagonist seeking revenge and ending the corruption of the Ardentes. Do we want to be the protagonist in this story or do we want to be the medium towards the continuous rule of the corrupt oligarchs—Philippines’ very own Ardentes?