Volume IV, Number 3. 15 February 2022.
The race is on! The campaign period for the 9 May national elections kicked off on 8 February to gaudy and flamboyant proclamation rallies. President Rodrigo Duterte is illegible for reelection, under Philippine laws, but the entire election campaign is focused on the tyrant nonetheless. Vying to rule the Manila government are Duterte proxies, Duterte aspirants and those who, for the time being, vow to reverse the tyrant’s traitorous, murderous and larcenous legacy.
Duterte himself naturally wants to remain in power. He’s privately cowering from the Filipino people’s righteous rage and demands for justice, as well as from the prospects of being tried before the International Criminal Court. As we have noted, the coercive and financial resources of the Manila government and his underwriters will be utilized in full to ensure that he, his proxies or even his aspirants will come out on top in May 2022.
But the Duterte ruling clique is no longer as invulnerable. Former staunch allies in the Philippine Senate have exposed billion-peso rip-offs in the Covid-19 supplies contracts, spoiling Duterte’s ‘corruption-free’ façade. Military and police generals, weary with kowtowing to China and ever-subservient to the US, are overtly and covertly lining up behind opposition rivals. Foreign and local comprador capital sense these cracks in the ruling clique, and will place their bets on contenders who can better represent their interests. The bloody tradition of Philippine elections will exhibit itself once again: glitzy political campaign rallies will camouflage hideous political assassinations.
Away from the limelight, Duterte’s security forces will intensify its bombing raids, armed occupation and repression of the peasant and indigenous communities in the countryside. In their futile zeal to end the armed revolutionary movement before June 2022, body count and ‘surrendered’ villages will continue to pile up, the dead and impoverished all conveniently labeled communists and terrorists.
The call for an International Observer Mission to monitor the May 2022 elections is thus welcome news. Organizers have correctly noted that the bloody violence of past elections and the mass murders which characterize the Duterte regime, are portents of the violence which could erupt in 2022. Foreign, independent observers are set to visit all 12 Philippine regions, vowing to be a protective presence for election officials, the voters and the general public.
Parallel to the commendable efforts of the international community and local election watchdogs, the people’s democratic government shall enforce its policies within its territories, prohibiting politicians from vote buying, intimidating the public and bringing armed security escorts.