Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte enters the new year with strong political momentum on his side. But a move afoot to amend the constitution in a manner that would potentially allow him to serve beyond a one-term, six-year legal limit could be a flash point in the months ahead.
The Duterte administration is on the verge of amending the Philippine charter to create a new federal-parliamentary form of government. For critics, the move is nothing short of an attempt to upend the country’s democratic regime to establish a self-serving autocracy.
Currently there are various proposals on how to revamp the 1987 constitution, a document deliberately designed to prevent a repeat of ex-president Ferdinand Marcos’ abusive dictatorship. Provisions include a single term limit for any elected president that ensures the peaceful transfer of power from one elected leader to another.
It also places stringent preconditions for the declaration of nationwide martial law and other draconian emergency measures by the executive branch. Last year, the Duterte-dominated Congress allowed the president to place the conflict-ridden southern island of Mindanao under martial law for all of 2018.
Critics of the regime fear martial law could easily be extended across the archipelagic nation in response to a terror attack or security crisis. For Duterte’s supporters, however, the current constitution creates an unnecessarily weak presidency, giving the national leader limited time and power to bring about transformational change.
His advocates argue that the current unitary-presidential system unfairly concentrates power in “imperial Manila” at the expense of peripheral regions, particularly Visayas and Mindandao, the bailiwicks of the president.
The introduction of a new parliamentary system of government, they argue, will pave the way for the rise of the kinds of visionary leaders and dominant parties which turned former backwaters such as Singapore and Malaysia into major economic hubs under strong national leaders Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad respectively.
If so, now may be a strategic time to make the move. According to the country’s leading independent surveys, Duterte won the approval of as many as four out of five Filipinos in the final quarter of 2017. His ratings had slipped dramatically in the third quarter due to negative perceptions of his bloody drug war.
The Filipino president also ably leveraged his hosting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Manila – where global leaders cordially hobnobbed with Duterte – to burnish his credentials in the public eye.
This effectively makes the tough-talking populist among the most popular democratically elected leaders in the world. Buoyed by strong public support, Duterte and his allies seem keen to consolidate a long-term grip on state institutions via transformation of the political system.
They also seem keen to shut down any criticism of his rule, seen in Monday’s Securities and Exchange Commission order to revoke the operating license of plucky online media outlet Rappler.
The government has denied any involvement in the closure order, even as Duterte had previously threatened the site over its drug war coverage. Silencing the media, some suggest, could be part of a wider conspiracy to blunt criticism of the drive to overhaul the charter.
Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party’s draft constitution openly calls for the removal of current term limits, potentially extending the president’s reign beyond mid-2022, when his single six-year term in office legally expires.
It would also abolish the offices of the vice-president, historically and currently the stronghold of opposition leaders. The draft instead envisions a bi-cameral legislature, composed of a Federal Assembly, where representatives are selected on a nation-wide level, and a Senate, composed of regional representatives.
A dominant president system, where the elected executive can stay in power for up to a decade and select the prime minister from among the members of the Federal Assembly, is akin to those in France and Turkey. The president remains as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and chief architect of foreign policy.
To Duterte’s critics, the proposed constitution could potentially create a Putin-like “tandemocracy” regime, whereby a dominant figure could rotate between the offices of president and prime minster to serve as de facto national leader perpetually.
Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr, son of the former dictator, and ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are among the president’s strongest supporters and already widely seen as leading contenders to serve as Duterte’s chosen prime minster in the event of charter change.
At the very least, a shift to a new form of government would put Duterte in a position to extend his tenure and give him an unprecedented opportunity to reshape the Philippine political system in his own image.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, however, has denied any plans for extending Duterte’s term in office, stating, “if the constitution is amended… [Duterte] is willing to let go, because he is not keen really on staying as president. That’s the truth.”
For critics, the move is nothing short of an attempt to upend the country’s democratic regime to establish a self-serving autocracy
Opposition leaders such as Senator Antonio Trillanes, however, retort that one must be “naïve” to “swallow what this president says,” claiming that a new constitution will give Duterte and his supporters the pretext for regime change.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a staunch Duterte supporter, has proposed the cancellation of Barangay (village-level) elections in mid-2018 to pave the way for a plebiscite, which, in turn, will act as a precursor for the establishment of new form of government.
The Congress, where Duterte enjoys a “super-majority” support, is also proposing the creation of a Constituent Assembly, where the members of the lower house jointly votes along with those in the Senate on proposed constitutional amendments, the passage of which requires a three-fourths vote of the combined legislature.
Opposition leaders see this as a thinly disguised plot to diminish the power of the Senate, which has far fewer members and has historically served as an institutional check on the power of overreaching presidents. But the popular Duterte and his legislative backers seem poised to shift Philippine democracy in a less democratic direction.
All I see here is irrational fear mongering with no factual basis other than emotional appeal. Heck, Duterte might not even be able to finish his term
"They also seem keen to shut down any criticism of his rule, seen in Monday’s Securities and Exchange Commission order to revoke the operating license of plucky online media outlet Rappler." FALSE. Have you read the ruling before hiting the Publish button?!
SEC closed Rappler’s incorporation because it violated the Philippine Constitution which requires that mass media should be 100% owned by Filipinos.
SEC page 29 en banc ruling says there was “substantial evidence that respondents intentionally created an elaborate scheme, upon which its receipt of over a million dollars from a foreign investor would be theoretically defensible – the investor would never own stock and would never receive dividends and he would never become an officer or director but respondents would still be able to give him his money’s worth in the form of negative control and cash contributions, all through a private contractual arrangement.”
Enough of your lies about Duterte.
So where would this "dark money" be coming from? Surely not Langley, right?
Ferninand Marcos ruled for twenty years with US blessings despite rampant corruption, widespread poverty, a huge national debt and Filipinas being exploited sexually. There was no such articles from western media then. Why now? .
Galen Linder It’s from Pierre Omidyar. They own a non-voting share but, despite that, it is still against our constitution.
Viva Duterte!
all i can say is he has a word of honor which most filipinos are longing for it. so be it whatever he does for our country. yes his tough but we need a tough like him. his honest and don’t care he fired even he appointed it as long as you must follow the rules of a clean government. lies all lies about our president only dumb ass wil believe.
guard that you don’t know you have because you will surely miss it…
I can see Philippines is slowly going back to the Marcos era. Stupid Pilippinos are letting him getting away with it. He is using the drugs crusade to harness people support. Polices are very corrupted. They are usingbthis opportunity to get rid of opposition to the police drug gang. Killing them without mercy.
Utter bullshit. Why was the license granted in the first place. Duterte is finding an excuse to close ir down. Anybody check to see it is whole owned by PHilippino to contradict Duterte exertion that it is partly owned by foreigner.
Viva dictator
Dominic Ong Before you accuse me of bullshit, fill your reasoning with facts and critical thinking. I already gave you the SEC ruling and still you do not understand. If you have no respect for our laws and constitution, there is no other way of reasoning with you. BTW, Rappler was not closed down. Search Rappler and you’ll see they’re still continuing their blabber. This was not a fight against free journalism because, heck, everybody can throw shit at the government with words right now. It was unfortunate for Rappler to throw shit and exist with skeletons in its closet.
You can fear only if your a drug dealer, a crook and a murderer. Otherwise your fine babae. People have become to acustomed to crying wolf and unless they see a soft academic Bill Clinton type or a smooth jive talker like Obama they see HITLER!!! Well you can go take a nap Dominic, everything is gonna be alright.
if he is not usa stooges, he must go
Asia Times Online is another fake news like rappler..
A news agency online in disguise… it’s purpose is to derail and to mislead the Filipino people to the real issue… NOT WE… ASIA TIMES ONLINE…. WE ARE ONLINE!
Asia Times is another fake news,
One would think that the years of Ferdinand Marcos would have been enough to cure the Philippines of any urge to regress back into autocratic rule by a dictator. But no: once again back comes the Philippines for a second dose of the same bitter quack medicine. When will they ever learn?
After reading all the comments, It seems to me that Asia Times is not on line but OUT OF LINE to the realities of life in our country, we are already fed up with the previous proposition that our president is not working for us and is only interested in perpetuating himself for sole power, but the reality does exist and he is ONLINE with us and being duly supported by the people as shown by the SWS survey of almost 80 percent approval rating no matter how many unwarranted and bullshit stories being thrown against the government. Whom are we to believe this reporter or these overwhelming commentaries from simple citizens who are defending this government the choice is yours for you to believe. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.
No I have no respect for your country law and order where the President can order police to kill alleged drug triffikers without evident and trial. Your polices are very corrupted. Look at a case few months ago. The police kidnapped a South Korean businessman killed him in police station and then demand ransom. Surely the other policemen saw it but keep quiet. Are they sharing the spoils. The custom officers are also very corrupted forcing tourists to pay Byblos’s faulsifying bullets or other illegals materials in their luggages. The whole system in Philippines are corrupted. No I don’t respect your country. Not one bit and I won’t step a foot into your country. I had visited over sixty countries but never Philippines. People warned me if the danger in your country. I won’t go into details as you know it yourself.
Dominic Ong. You’re aware of the Hasty Generalization, I pressume. No worries, we’re not begging you to come and visit. I mean, who are you? You do not provide us the oxygen to breath, the food we eat, the water we drink and the roof above our head. ???? So I’ll leave this here and move on to better things to do. Have a good day.
Pulang Araw I know it’s rampant. But what is the cause. Poverty. And why only the small crooks. What about the big financiers. The big crooks that have big money to supply drugs to small crooks. Shoot them too. I suspect they have the police in their pocket and the police themselves are the biggest crook of all. Remember the polices who kidnapped a South Korean businessman took him to the station and murdered him and then demand ransom from his family. So what did the other police do. Nothing because all of them had a hand in it. Get your police cleaned first before they murder indiscriminately to prove to Duterte they are doing their job. And they are drug gang to the drug lord who the police are protecting. Get real.
Looks like CIA is trying regime change for Philippines…
..the title is about Duterte’s lust for power and then puts a photo of Duterte in military uniform. You’d already know what the article’s implying.