Is Duterte still claiming to be "Socialist?" "Social democrat?"

Is Duterte still claiming to be "Socialist?" "Social democrat?"

(Or: "Thoughts after Bernardo Villegas's 'Duterte is a social democrat' 
and how he is not as such)

By Kat Ulrike

At one time, this writer read a commentary by Bernardo Villegas. Entitled "Duterte is a Social Democrat", the neoliberal academic simply describing Duterte, then as a presidential candidate, as a "social democrat", and he initially saw hope in him, who "not only transformed one of the most violence-torn cities into a very peaceful community with low crime rates, significantly improved the business climate, and significantly improving its infrastructures."

Quite agreeable at first, especially how Villegas admitted a fellow neoliberal Carlos Dominguez was difficult for him to be optimistic because his candidate had shocked members of the Makati Business Club with a rambling speech replete with expletives but with no content on the economic policy that he would follow if he were elected president. But, Duterte's long years of experience of "respecting market forces" contrast markedly with his constant reference to himself as a "socialist." In fact, Duterte treated "socialism" as a doormat if not trying to snare people who wished for radical social change. Right was Villegas the neoliberal that Duterte was in truth and in deed not a "socialist", let alone either a "social democrat" or just plain populist that's trying to create a "social market economy" with a neoliberal perspective. 

He and his  political party trying to be "socialist"
(despite diluted views)

Ironically, Duterte's political party, PDP-LABAN, was originally leaning towards "Democratic Socialism"/"Social Democracy" with "Social Conservative"/"Christian Democratic" characteristics. Its original political agenda made during the 80s was quite radical that other than devolving powers to local governments, promotion of cooperatives and worker/community-owned enterprises to counter that of big businesses. 

In fact, according to Aquilino Pimentel's 1982 Cebu Convention Speech, PDP-LABAN's ideological and political positions smacks of Socialism, which was eventually diluted or discarded:

• Build Nationalist Structures Favouring Local Ownership of Wealth:
  "It (PDP) will never allow itself to be dictated to by foreigners"; "limit the availability of domestic credit resources only to Filipinos"; "allow only Filipinos to utilise and develop the country's natural resources"
• Build Socialist Structures through Private Cooperatives:
  "PDP considers ownership merely as a stewardship for the well-being of the owner, of society, and of the state"; "encourage efficient small and medium enterprises, preferably as cooperatives, as a counterfoil to the power of big business"

Furthermore, PDP LABAN's ideology includes "Democratic Socialism" which states that: 

"All economic power must rest in the hands of the people. Talents and ownership are merely stewards for the well-being of society and the state. They may, therefore be regulated so that the concentration of wealth and resources in the hands of the few is prevented. The goals of economic policy are the total development of human person, societal property, and equitable share for all in the national wealth. Profit in any form is subservient to these goals."

For sure a concerned find it hardly recognise PDP-LABAN as a "Democratic Socialist/Social Democratic" party as in the past. Duterte's claim as a 'left-winger' and 'socialist' last 2016 would say that he as a member of PDP-LABAN tries to affirm his political party as that of a 'left-wing', 'socialist', movement like those of Akbayan, Philippine Democratic Socialist Party (PDSP), or even the Communist Party, although these turn out to be just 'words', 'phrases' to snare people especially in the face of growing opposition against local oligarchs, corrupt bureaucrats, and the yearning for 'people power in the economy'.  

However, as any other "political parties", supposed political programs are being shelved in favour of short-term agendas, most of which even ran contrary to their supposed political lines like how Christian Democrats in Europe outrightly adopted neoliberalism while mellowing Christian social teaching. PDP-LABAN cannot escape from that neoliberal trend- and in the case of Duterte who assuming to be "socialist" to snare the radically-minded patriot, he's truly way far from what he presents himself: that he has no intention to nationalize strategic industries, distribute more private lands to small farmers, and simply continuing and maintain the very prudent macroeconomic policies of the Aquino administration and his predecessors, which leftists in general refer to derisively as “neoliberal.” He even wanted to remove the restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution in order to attract more foreign direct investments with less or no regulations at all, and wants to involve more private participation in the construction of infrastructure projects by addressing bottlenecks in the implementation of the public-private partnership program now repackaged as "Build Build Build" and is supported by foreign loans particularly those from China. Truly, he just 'respect' the unfairness of letting market forces decide with as much as possible less/or no interference at all by the state, let alone collecting taxes and urging to obey laws.

Apologists, just like Villegas, would agree to the thought that Duterte's 'socialistic' view is more closer to the "social market economy" with less regulations while at the same time people cushioned with welfare state-like 'programs'. However, reality draws more closer to the trend of neoliberalism as what Villegas and other contemporary economists, even apologists wanted: that of "eliminating price controls, deregulating capital markets, lowering trade barriers" and reducing, especially through privatization and austerity, state influence in the economy. with the desire to emphasize strict market relations, re-tasking the role of the state, and individual responsibility." And this also way contrary to the "social market economy" whose  notions of the welfare state sometimes mistakenly identify it as being socialistic. 

Trying to be 'radical' as his words and deeds
(despite acting contrary to those)

On the other hand, his populist rhetoric is packaged by his apologists as some kind of radicalism that appeals to poor Filipinos. That at times he's against "bad oligarchs" during nighttime fireside chats expressing angsts ranging from small time tobacco manufacturer Wongchuking to that of Lopez and ABSCBN. The Wongchukings were known for their Mighty and La Campana cigarettes, which were small-time as opposed to Lucio Tan and his Fortune Tobacco. Both Wongchuking and Lucio Tan were tax evaders tho, with the former having issues on fake tax stamps; yet how come Lucio Tan end scot free in exchange for some less pay while Wongchuking forced to give up their cigarette business and pay their exact dues due to the same tax issues as that of Lucio Tan's?
On the other hand, Duterte coddles "good oligarchs" especially those who supported his political career and his political agenda like San Miguel's Ramon Ang who supported the government's "build build build" program to that of allying his Nationalist People's Coalition to the administration-led "Coalition for Change". From this would say find it strange how Duterte trying to be radical on one side while moderating on the other when it comes to "dealing with the oligarchy"; if not thinking his actions weren't driven by some political radicalism, let alone a politically-motivated vendetta as what happened to the Lopezes and the stripping of ABSCBN its broadcasting rights using his allies in the congress. Apologists of course may still interpret this as a radical gesture of "fighting against the oligarchs" if not some kind of "socialist escapade" as if their idol seriously pursuing it.  

But regardless of his initial self-presentation as a "socialist", or how a neoliberal like Villegas saw him as a "social democrat", Duterte's actual tendency is way far from those words. Instead of a "social market economy" as what Villegas saw, a continuity of faulty market-oriented policies from past administrations worsen the situation, at times tiptoeing between government intervention and laissez faire, what more with the lack of strong foundation especially in local agriculture and industry. "Reforms" like the Rice Tariffication Law rather benefited smugglers and entrenched entities in the agricultural sector despite trying to . The tax reform law, supposedly meant to lower the taxes for the growing middle class, is especially onerous. This reduces taxes paid by wealthy families, foreign investors, and domestic big business while seeing with higher consumption taxes paid by the majority of poor Filipinos. Benefits for the poor are rather made up or grossly exaggerated as shown by its propaganda pieces made by the Philippine News Agency (PNA) to that of its apologists in social media. Even the "Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives Reform Act", supposed to benefit Micro, Small, and Medium enterprises rather provided corporate income tax cuts for large firms instead! 

The signs of economic troubles and the fundamentally anti-poor direction of economic policies became even clearer as time goes by. Duterte did continue his predecessors "Conditional Cash Transfer" program for the poor, even  institutionalizes it through Republic Act 11310 as the government's primary poverty reduction initiative, which carries implementation upgrades that further enhance efforts to uplift the marginalized sector from poverty. Deemed as a national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment program, provides conditional cash transfer (CCT) to poor households for a maximum of seven years to improve their health, nutrition, and access to education. Its qualified beneficiaries are also automatically covered in the National Health Insurance Program. Even the creation of "Malasakit Centers" to support needy hospital patients was presented as part of the government's welfare program;  as it provides more accessible and convenient means for Filipinos to seek financial and medical assistance, especially after the passage of the Malasakit Center Act of 2019 which mandates the establishment of a one-stop-shop where indigent patients and their families can access financial and medical assistance from government agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

But these palliative actions aren't enough especially in a time government talks about privatizing education, health, housing and other social services, as well as a failure to outline a production sector-based domestic jobs creation thrust. In an instance, the failure on on providing support services to the small farmers who have been the beneficiaries of the first phase of agrarian reform attests an agriculture crisis that include slowing sectoral growth; shrinking share in gross domestic product; rising import dependence; increasing trade deficit; significant job losses; and widespread rural poverty. Villegas, however, rather interpret this providing support services as a desire to enable small farmers to either lease their farms or even sell them outright to those who can make more productive use of them "whether corporations or cooperatives" as what Villegas stated. Sadly, most of the farms sold aren't used for agricultural purposes as what the neoliberal academic thinks of, but instead converted to residential or commercial uses that benefited real estate developers/speculators like Villar and Ayala. 

Still, apologists would cling to his pseudoradical narrative

(in a time people getting concerned about a country failed under him)

Apologists may still cling to the thought that Duterte's concern to the poorest of the poor is so genuine as the CCT and the Malasakit Centers, that his statements against the "bad oligarchs" was just as his promise of industrialisation (even appointing RJ Jacinto as its adviser). But as people expressed concern over the regime's neoliberal nature of its economic programs and reforms, of slow paced growth despite more government spending and its debt-driven infrastructure program, then it is not surprising that the government's treatment of development was simply to consolidate interests both the "good" oligarch and of international finance capital. There were times that Duterte's political agenda of centralized power and extended rule through charter change became a major matter, especially after bannering federalism that's being presented as a panacea for the country’s far-ranging economic and political ills. He even wished to ran for the vice presidency both to serve as a "spare tire" and to escape being persecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), only to shelve due to his unpopularity. His supporters, however, continue to pressure him or his daughter, Sara to run for higher office if not to pursue revolutionary government, followed by charter change, with their desired federalism as its main topic- even it is deemed "unpopular" by many due to the controversies the administration involved/or implicated.

Perhaps, to cut this thought short, the order's actions are rather meant to snare people the way their president as treating words as simply "phrases" to spoken. And "as far as ideology is concerned", Duterte is too orderist to be a radical, not even considered as "socialist" nor a "social democrat", let alone a populist just like prewar rulers Dollfuss or Henri de Man whose whose New Deal-like 'Planisme' turned out to be an anti-democratic movement invented by a man disillusioned with democracy, socialism, and the working class; or like those of his idol Marcos whose developmentalism was treated as a means to consolidate his martial rule even it requires immense loans generations of Filipinos ought to pay for. These people even talked about balancing the national budget, building infrastructure, and lastly a perchance for order all to maintain the supremacy of the privileged few using the terms "stability".