Democracy on the brink in the Philippines Posted by The Society of Honor on October 4, 2016 · 131 Comments

By Joe America

Democratic principles and institutions have always been an awkward fit in the Philippines. The nation remains tribal in the sense that people are fulfilled by being a part of a power bloc rather than a part of a system of freedoms and responsibilities. Loyalty to personalities trumps loyalty to principles because people can relate better to a strongman leader than to this nebulous idea that “we” are the nation. They are lifted up by sharing the power. They are not lifted up by giving of self to build a passionate bond with others.

Huh? What nation? Our nation has been led by foreigners and the self-serving elite, not us. There is no “nation”, as such, that is for us. Pacquiao and beauty queens and winning singers are a celebration of us. The national anthem is about our struggles, not about democracy or unity. Anything good that we have ever received is from our local boss, who only demands our loyalty. We give, we get. That’s the way it works.

So we see the awkwardness of the overlay of power personalities on democratic institutions today, as the House becomes an arm of Executive, and as it is used as a trial court for a senator who would dare to adhere to democratic principles. The Senate is following that same path, toward the ideals of power personalities over what the Constitution says the senators ought to be doing.

Other than a few educated elite, we can see Filipinos are a people who feel comfortable with power personalities and not democracy. President Aquino worked within the framework and principles of democracy, as envisioned by America’s founding fathers. Laws matter. Civility matters. The economy is crucial to better care for the nation. Earnest service and honesty are important. These ideals gained him no favor in a nation whose people went from loving him as the antidote to corruption to hating him for thinking he is better than the rest of us. Missing those coffins, after all.

Filipinos would rather support a president who fills 3,500 coffins than give a break to one who claimed to be good but did not attend the arrival of 44 of them.

The proof that Filipinos are comfortable with power personalities is clear when we see the absolute absence of protest as Filipino sovereign territory is put on the block so that the nation can have a train. We see the Philippine strongman work diligently to kick out the new villain, the United States, and cuddle up with China and Russia, like-minded nations that also prize power personalities and wheeling and dealing rather than laws. The US becomes arrogant and elitist for trying to impose nebulous concepts of human rights on people who deal in brutality and favor and suppression every day.

Oh, yes, there is a small section of the nation, the well-educated elitists who have traveled around and tout their principles as if they had all the answers. They object to the killings and the abusive suppression of Senator De Lima, and the loss of sovereign seas and the tossing away of the security blanket and ideals the US offers. They are pained by the loss of reputation in the global community of nations.

But they are largely irrelevant and busy griping to themselves.

I gripe with them, and as far as I can tell, accomplish very little for the doing of that. Maybe I give a bit of uplift to the principled, who today are beaten down every day they awaken in this rude, ruthless land.

A governmental system of power personalities is tangible. It is that. All this bullshit about principles and rights and freedoms is very nebulous.

Unfortunately, it is that tangible quality of power that gives a person such as myself a great deal of grief. I see the two different systems starkly. Clear, obvious. The problem is not President Duterte. The problem is all the presidents since the days democracy was adopted by, or imposed upon, Filipinos. Those presidents could not sell democracy. Generally because they were using it to steal and rule. They didn’t “get it” themselves, that democracy is not a pretend universe or a set of tools for self-glorification and greed. It requires things like sacrifice and honor and embracing diversity. These are tangible ideals to those who get it. They are not toys to be deployed in the gain of favors and deployment of power.

People like me, and I suppose those of the educated elite, if they have the means and kids, have to figure out exactly what values their kids will grow up to follow. To succeed in the Philippines, you need to know how to use power. To succeed in the US, you have to know how to incorporate others into the power mechanisms, under a framework of principles.

A principled person in the Philippines is likely to fail or be killed. Not succeed.

A power player in the US may succeed or fail, depending on if he exerts his power within the framework of laws and ethics and those things called principles.

So all this is stark, clear, evident.

What future does the Philippines hold for my son, and kids like him? Do I want him to do the things he needs to do to succeed in a land that is built on power personalities? Or to live where he can grow richer . . . inside . . . by sacrificing and giving?

I mean, it boils down to one simple question.

How will he find fulfillment . . . by squashing others . . or embracing them?