Editorial Cartoon by Earl John Pabular
Written by: RJ Ledesma

We are witnessing the last gasp of a strongman. Fascists, like President Duterte, become more desperate in the face of their imminent decay. The Bisaya bravado Duterte is known for among his 16 million voters has spiraled down into a pool of incoherence. He can’t seem to hold a thought without going on his favorite tangents: drugs, misogynistic jokes, and communists.

As made clear in the past weeks, he is utterly incapable of leading a nation in times of crisis. From his militaristic approach to the pandemic to the non-response during the successive typhoons, Rolly and Ulysses — all amounted to criminal negligence, which led to numerous avoidable deaths.

Duterte does not have anything to show up for anymore so he gets rabid, like a K-9. And when he gets rabid, he knows it becomes a spectacle. The fanatics eat it up. Dominant media, with their misplaced allegiance to “neutrality”, further fans the flame. Lies become the truth when repeated over and over. That is this regime’s mantra.

Case in point: his most recent national address became a frothing tirade against the Vice President Leni Robredo. Instead of assuring the Filipino people everything is in order, the President parrots popular talking points among alleged anti-Robredo trolls. Allegations such as Robredo riding a C-130 plane to Catanduanes or that she started #NasaanAngPangulo on Twitter. Exposed, Secretary Panelo was even forced to apologize to Robredo for feeding the president with such unfounded claims.

Misinformation and sensationalism are bread and butter to this regime. The lies build up a facade where Duterte hides his deteriorating, Fentanyl-induced mental (and physical) state. The spectacle, which mainstream media is complicit in reporting everything he says uncritically, hides the real costs of Duterte’s criminal negligence.

This regime and its communications team clearly have a method in harnessing Duterte’s madness. A day after the storm has ravaged Northern Luzon, submerging most of its Barangays, Duterte and political opportunist Senator Bong Go are seen atop a helicopter. It is a carefully crafted image to make them seem like they are on top of things, and which panders to their devoted fans.

Meanwhile, Duterte’s attacks on the Vice President for simply doing her job does not only stem from a bruised ego. It is also tactical. Divisiveness brings about fanatical rage from his supporters, which diverts the focus away from his incompetence.

Even in his speeches, he creates imagined enemies and throws the blame on various sectors other than himself. For one, Duterte blamed “squatters” and their houses made of wood for the increased deforestation in our country. Yet he fails to condemn the Chinese-sponsored Kaliwa Dam project or Ramon Ang’s Bulacan Airport, which are a few of the largest contributors of denudement in our forests.

Just a few days before, he gave an impassioned speech demanding climate justice among ASEAN leaders. This plenary speech was his reason for being in absentia during the wake of the typhoon. And yet this is merely lip service, since his actions are not consistent with this position. He allows massive mining companies to operate and does not oppose imperialist plunder of our land. The speech was mere posturing. He’s all image, no substance.

We can also see this in his constant attacks towards activists, which legitimizes their killings by state forces. He conditions the public that they are the enemy. This conditioning, through NTF-ELCAC, costs 19 billion. This perceived enemy also legitimizes his huge expenditure on arms and bombs. Recently, he bought 900 million-peso worth of smart bombs from the Trump administration for his whole-of-nation counterinsurgency project. Meanwhile, calamity funds are reduced significantly.

Duterte’s camp understands that in this age of social media, image is king. In his 2016 campaign, part of his appeal was his larger-than-life mythos. The strongman image is calculated and developed by people pulling his strings. And as we can see now, that image is slowly decaying as all illusions are bound to be.

Fake news and its corresponding state-sanctioned infrastructures must aggressively be combated with the truth. But we can’t rely on dominant media to do that as they still thrive within the logic of Capital. The president’s divisive rhetoric brings more page clicks. Page clicks mean more profit. Headlines must tug at the heartstrings, even at the risk of simplification. The spectacle of the madness of Duterte is what brings clout.

Feeding the trolls and engaging in online banter with his fanatics may not be the best strategy. In the wake of the two typhoons, we have seen the people rise up to fill in the President’s shoes. We could see a glimpse of the revolutionary potential of community-building, in our ability to band together for a common cause. This revolutionary potential even scares Duterte and his ilk as red tagging queen Lorraine Badoy tries to discredit the efforts of some progressive groups, like the League of Filipino Students, in their relief work.

This shows us that the real fight is outside. It’s in the streets. It is through organizing. Online engagements can only do so much. And despite the fact that this dictator is clearly in decay, he won’t disappear on his own. Like a rotten fruit in a tree too stubborn to break free from the branch, it might be time that we, the people, aggressively shake the tree until the decaying fruit falls to the ground, a fodder for maggots and earthworms.