The Philippine system of government, inherited from our American colonizers, is unique, with its raucous collection of political parties based not on ideology but on personality.
.. The front-runner for the presidency is Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-talking mayor of Davao, the Philippines’ third-largest city. He threatens to dissolve Congress and impose a “revolutionary government” if his reforms meet resistance. “I am a dictator? Yes, it is true.” he said. He also vows that if he is elected he will end crime in six months. “If I fail, kill me,” he said.
.. His son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., known as Bongbong, a senator, is leading the race for vice president and taking advantage of the short memory in a country where the median age is 23.
.. Some economists estimate that 40 of the Philippines’ richest families control 76 percent of gross domestic product.
.. The Center for People Empowerment in Governance, a think tank, found that roughly 80 percent of the 229 congressional seats were controlled by dynastic politicians.
It’s little wonder that many Filipinos now question the value of democracy.
.. He has been linked to more than 1,000 extra-legal executions of petty criminals during his time as mayor. Not only has he admitted to supporting the killings, he has promised that as president he will “turn the 1,000 into 100,000” and dump their bodies in Manila Bay and “fatten all the fish there.”
.. This image as a brash, no-nonsense leader explains why nothing he says is able to damage him. He repeatedly described a rival using a homophobic slur. He called Pope Francis “a son of a whore.” He told human-rights groups to “go to hell.” He joked that he should have been first in the gang rape of an Australian missionary. “That’s how men speak,” Mr. Duterte explained. “I am not a son of the privileged class.” His supporters, who often threaten his critics on social media with death and rape threats, defended him with an offensive, but telling, rhetorical question: How can people get so upset at a rape joke when politicians have been raping the country for so long?
.. For my whole life I’ve witnessed a tendency among Filipinos to elect people who pose as saviors. We long for a disciplinarian, but meanwhile we squabble among ourselves, willingly pay bribes and flout rules. We choose candidates based on regional ties or entertaining personalities. All of us recognize that our government, dominated by an oligarchy, is severely broken — but we need to select leaders who will educate and empower us to fix it ourselves. More, real, democracy is necessary, not less.