Memo

To: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of Philippines From: Tori Rocamontes, Farah Itani, Hogan Lee, Maeve Murphy-Estus, Yusuf Hussein Date: 12/05/2022 RE: Improving the Democratization in Philippines

The Philippines has a unitary presidential republic based political system where there are three branches of government: presidential for executive, congress for legislative, and a supreme court for judiciary1. While this country shares the same structure of recognizable democratic countries, the Philippines has been struggling with maintaining this identity, those issues will be detailed in this memo as well as recommendations for improving and maintaining democracy in the Philippines.

Current State of Democracy and Democratization in Philippines The Philippines is a state that is experiencing a breakdown in democracy, and is sliding backwards into nondemocratic rule. From 1986 up until 2022, the Philippines has been run by individuals who believe in democracy. On May 9th of 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr was elected president of the Philippines. The shift from democratic to nondemocratic starts with the new President. Ferdinand Marcos Jr is a descendant of the Marcos family, which took charge of the Philippines in 1965 and turned the state into an authoritarian dictatorship. When Marcos Jr’s father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr, was removed from office in 1986, the people of the Philippines referred to the time period as “re-democratization”.2 Since the removal of Marcos Sr, the Philippines experienced a great shift towards democracy. There have been many individuals who have assumed the role of president since Marcos Sr, and they all helped the Philippines undergo democratization. However, with the recent election of Marcos Jr, these democratic efforts will slowly disappear. Marcos Jr has pledged to reignite his father’s legacy; his critics counter this by emphasizing that he will deepen corruption and tighten political grip on state institutions.3 The Filipino government regularly conducts elections, which contributes to their historically democratic way of government. As the result of an election, a ruler, which has a high chance for corruption and authoritarianism, was elected. This contradicts the idea that elections make a state a democracy.4 The Philippines has a long way to go to get back to their democratic way of government.

Philippines and Dahl’s Polyarchy Components

4 Schmitter, Philippe and Terry Lynn Karl. 1991. “What Democracy Is...and Is Not.”Journal of Democracy. 1991: 75-88.

3 Heydarian, Richard Javad. “The Return of the Marcos Dynasty.” Journal of Democracy. Johns Hopkins University Press, July 20, 2022. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/860245/pdf.

2 “Filipino Elections and 'Illiberal' Democracy - University of the ...” Accessed October 29, 2022. https://cids.up.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Filipino-Elections-and-Illiberal-Democracy-vol.2-no.3-J uly-Sep-1998.pdf.

1 Wikipedia. “Politics of the Philippines.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, October 6, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_Philippines.

In the Philippines, the elites have kept their control through the harassment of opposition leaders5. This means that the Philippines is struggling with the second and fifth components of Dahl's Polyarchy. The opposition leaders have been arrested or threatened with the possibility of being arrested if they disagree with the reigning political power. This is an issue because it causes no political progression in the government. The consequences would be leading to a party that has political power for a significant period of time, people may fear the consequences of not voting in elections, and the elections are concentrated on a small handful of powerful families that control the turnout of the election and contribute the most amount of money for the elector’s campaign. Since the party is concentrated in the few elite, it allows for corruption in who maintains power of the government. Filipino society is at risk for their lives because the government plans to attack the people that disagree with their values. Secondly, the Philippines struggles with Dahl’s sixth component because it does not allow for freedom to seek out other sources in the media. The attacks range to people that are activists, leaders, journalists and more. This means that people are unable to have true and differing sources because the media is being targeted if it does not agree with the current leader’s view. There are little to no resources available for the public to condemn the people in power or for them to protect themselves from the head of government. People fear that if they disagree with the government, then they could be a victim of violence from the government. According to Freedom House, journalists are at the highest risk because the president states dangerous and ill statements toward the media. These, as stated before, are physical and verbal attacks. The president has assassinated members of society that have publically gone against his opinion. President Duerte has struggled with the last of Dahl’s components by not allowing the forming of groups without being a target of his violence. As stated before, he attacks and assassinates members of human rights groups and civil society. This means that groups do not have the freedom to associate without the fear of death from President Duerte.

Factors Contributing to Philippines’ Democratization Struggle Internally, the Philippines have suffered with widespread corruption. This corruption is mainly associated with public and governmental services. Within the police services and the state’s judicial system, there has been a clear lack of human rights, bribery, and even impunity. Police services being bribed by big tycoons have damaged the reputation and credibility of the government public services. It has led to increased crimes and more violent behavior within the population, decreasing the quality and standard of life. Low infrastructure and other factors combined with high crime rates due to a lack of genuine police service leads to a slow modernization rate. The “war on drugs” hasn’t helped out much either in contributing positively to the standard of living for the Philippines.6 Although the many people being killed is a tragedy in itself due to them being drug addicts, the more horrendous effect however is the kids that are left behind. The children of those victims are left to deal with psychological stress, financial struggles, and bullying in their schools. Even though the effects of children not receiving

6 Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, October 27). Philippine Drug War. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_drug_war

5 “Philippines: Country Profile.” Freedom House, https://freedomhouse.org/country/philippines.

the proper education may not be seen as a current issue, later on when the children grow up to be in the workforce, they are less prepared and more likely less skilled to do those jobs. That is even considering if they don’t end up falling into drugs and end up unfortunately not making it to adulthood as well. This low replacement rate for the workforce in the Philippines leaves many open questions for the economy. Moreover, nepotism and favoritism within the government decreases the freedom that the public in the Philippines hold.7 Using a Padrino system, Philippine’s political system is mainly held by an alliance of families which demonstrates the very idea of nepotism. By restricting who even gets elected as a government official based on blood and not by merit, has the overall idea of democratization to be questioned within the Philippines. Fused with the primary idea of nepotism within the government, the public and government officials are punished and even executed if they disagree with the ideals of the family hierarchy. In recent years, the Philippines have distanced themselves more from western countries and showed more support for countries such as Israel, Kosovo, and Iran. This path of democracy growing at a slower rate in the Philippines has led to them becoming more of a questionable trade partner for other countries that could possibly help the economy of the Philippines in the long run.8

Policy Recommendation for Change

8 Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, November 25). Foreign relations of the Philippines. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Philippines

7 Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, October 29). Corruption in the Philippines. Wikipedia. Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_the_Philippines