SPACE REACT PRO: The Duterte Legacy: Honor amid Horrors

Six years ago, millions of Filipinos hoped for change and reformation in the Philippines. Six years ago, the country got what it wished for as it elected its first Mindanaoan and oldest president yet. Former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, dubbed as the “Philippine Strongman”, won the hearts and votes of about 39% registered voters or approximately 16 million Filipinos in the Philippines during 2016, due to his populist and nationalist approach as a leader. His firm and controversial stance in tackling crime and corruption often made it to the headlines, therefore earning him foreign recognition and the opportunity to be likened to other global strongmen and decisive leaders, such as the USA’s Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. As a new era of the Philippines dawns under newly-elected President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., is the Duterte administration legacy an amelioratory and glorious feat to anticipate, or a handicap to be dealt with?

Benefit of turning a Blind-eye: Realizing the Changes that Came

In his six years of office, Duterte has signed 175 executive orders into law which focused on granting reforms in the country’s economy, agriculture and education sectors, peace and security, and type of government system, to name a few. Perhaps one of his most visible and distinguished accomplishments is infrastructure development with the infamous Build! Build! Build! Project, which he claims is not just a superficial program for tourism and commercialization, but more importantly, a project motivated for economic benefits and sustainability. This monumental program was set up to attract foreign investments, ease urban situations, and provide more jobs for Filipinos. The Build! Build! Build! Project, although controversial due to doubts on ramped up infrastructure spending and being a tremendously ambitious initiative, has in fact, employed 6.5 million Filipino workers, proved to be a sustainable solution for the regional/countryside development of the Philippines, and is expected to play a key role in the country’s recovery from the economic recession brought on by the pandemic.

Moreover, he reformed the Philippines Tax System with the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law. Its main beneficiaries are the poorest income-earners and even extending to the middle-class earners, whereby those with an annual taxable income below PHP 250,000 will pay 0% personal income tax. However, although this law started off as a pro-poor and pro-development initiative, the cost-push inflation made it seem anti-poor by the time it was running. For instance, the increased excise tax rates on all petroleum products have consequently rippled to an increase in their prices, and this has caused an increase in the prices of the products and services that utilize petroleum as an input. The public was quick to denounce this law but failed to consider that external factors played a major role in the inflation, such that the world price of crude oil has risen considerably from its year-ago level and particularly at a fast rate in the last quarter of 2018.

The Duterte administration has also emphasized amendments in the agriculture sector with the signing of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) to liberalize rice trading, standardize the provision of fund assistance to farmers, and achieve global competence. In its first three years of implementation, from 2019 to 2021, a total of P46.6 billion was earned from rice imports. Through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), P10-billion of this collected tax from rice imports is used annually for programs for mechanization, seed development, extension services, and even access to training. The excess of the rice import fund then directly provided fund assistance to the farmers via Rice Farmers Financial Assistance (RFFA).

Another of his most notable orders was the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which provided free tuition and exemption from other fees to underprivileged Filipino students at state universities and colleges (SUCs). According to a report from the Philippine News Agency (PNA) last May 2021, around 1.6 million students have benefited from the program, as per records from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Furthermore, to demonstrate his commitment to eradicating corruption in the Philippine government, he signed the first ever Freedom of Information (FOI) program encompassing all Executive Branch offices. The order urged each office to disclose public records, contracts, transactions, and the like. This law also led to the creation of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission.

The part of his campaign that gained him massive support and anticipation was his resolve on community insurgency. Truly, his embodiment of a machismo president left a legacy where national peace and reconciliation were realized. After almost two decades of peace negotiations, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) was finally passed and ratified. The BOL aided in the subjugation of insurgency groups by granting the Bangsamoro an autonomous region, paving the way for more peaceful negotiations rather than the use of violent and physical means.

Democratic through and through

Looking past colossal hatred, unending criticism, and international opposition, Duterte’s domestic approval rating remained relatively high from 2016 to 2022. In fact, the former president got unprecedentedly high ratings, which is the highest in Philippine history. According to a recent Pulse Asia report in June this year, Duterte ended his administration with an 87% approval rate, which also ranks top among the four presidents of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and the nine “global” leaders of major world powers. Though he failed to fulfill some of his promises of change and even went too far in using his authority to achieve a goal, he was entitled to, he did stand his ground and remained the strong and firm figure of a leader he emulated ever since the 2016 election campaigns, all of which despite the difficulties he faced due to old age and health, and considering the emergence of the pandemic.

Undoubtedly, Duterte’s ways and means of governance are most often questionable and downright inhumane and cruel. Yet at the end of the day, in a democratic country, it’s the people’s voice and power that get to choose the governing bodies and the officials they put in position. Duterte, as controversial as he is, was the majority of the citizens’ choice, and they have stood by this choice till the end of his administration.

Sources: https://bit.ly/3PQGMu6; https://bit.ly/3OHl4Yt

by Eriel Indira R. Albarece

Conclusion

As the country transitions to a new regime under president-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., both the honors and the horrors brought upon by the Duterte administration serve a vital role in the realization and assessment of where the Philippines stands from here on out. Brian Vallejo’s “A Tragic Error in PRD’s Administration” aims to enliven all the overlooked atrocities of the administration, which have seemingly become closed cases and merely fever dreams despite the numbers that prove them horrendous and fraudulent. And while we do not tolerate and strongly condone all violations and abuses of power during his presidency, as in Eriel Indira R. Albarece’s “The Duterte Legacy: Honor amid Horrors,” we do not deny and ignore the progression and reformation in the Philippines during his term. After all, it’s the majority of the country who decided to put him to power and who supported him to remain in power despite all the news of contraventions and misconducts.

Disclaimer: The positions of the Editorial Board and Staff do not necessarily reflect the views, comments, opinions, and artwork of the writers/artists.