The great unhingingThe erosion of rule of law in the Philippines

ANU Philippines Project

August 23, 2018

Three pillars of duterte’s

strongman rule

Rule of law is fast eroding

I Kill, kill, kill: War on drugs

II No to dissent and use of law as weapon

III Weakened sovereign rights

Duterte’s

declaration

‘My adherence to due process and the rule

of law is uncompromising.’

Inaugural speech, July 30, 2016

War on drugs: the single

biggest threat to the rule of

law

#RealNumbers: Total of 6,542 killed from July 1,2016 to

March 20, 2018 or an average of about 25 per day

- 4,075 killed in anti-drug operations mostly by police

- 2,467 ‘drug-related’ killings carried out by vigilantes

Of these, 1,752 are ‘deaths under investigation’

(DUI); the rest have been solved

Source: Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency

Duterte’s 2017 key

accomplishments: Fighting

Illegal Drugs

#RealNumbers: Fighting

Illegal Drugs

• 3,967 drug personalities who died in anti-drug

operations, July 1, 2016 to November 27, 2017

• 16, 355 homicide cases under investigation, July 1,

2016 to September 20, 2017

• Total of 20,322 killings or an average of 39.46 deaths

every day.

source: The President’s 2017 Key Accomplishments

Supreme Court says:

‘The government’s inclusion of these deaths [homicide

cases under investigation] among its other

accomplishments may lead to the inference that these are

state-sponsored killings.’

Resolution, April 3, 2018

Tidal wave of

impunity

Surge of non-drug related murders

* 23,518 killings from July 2016-June 2018 (source:

Philippine National Police)

* Average of 33 a day

* Does not include killings by cops in police

operations

* Not all are linked to drugs

Mayor espinosa:

Killed in jail

Untouchable: Marvin

Marcos

War on loiterers

As of July 1018: 78,359 caught in Metro Manila

* 48, 420 warned

* 21,574 fined

* 8, 365 arrested

Source: Philippine National Police

War on poor

• Justice Antonio Carpio: ‘How come the flagship

project of the President is concentrated on going after

small-time peddlers? Why not the big-time drug lords?’

• Solicitor General Jose Calida: ‘…the instruction of

the President is to go after all of them…However, the

big-time Chinese drug lords are outside of our

jurisdiction…They are in China.’

Source: Supreme Court Resolution, April 3, 2018, taken from

transcript of oral arguments on December 5, 2017

The big

question

‘Extrajudicial killings and

vigilantism are the wrong

ways to go…Winning the

fight against drugs requires

addressing not just crime, but

also public health, human

rights and economic

development.’

- Cesar Gaviria, former

president of Colombia, in his

op-ed piece in the New York

Times, ‘President Duterte Is

Repeating My Mistakes’

Duterte’s response to

Gaviria

‘IDIOT!’

‘I’m not stupid.

You are.’

Exhibit aDetained since February 2017: Senator

Leila de Lima

Exhibit bMaria Lourdes Sereno: ousted

Supreme Court Chief Justice

Deported

• Giacomo Filibeck, Italian, member of the Party of

European Socialists

• Sister Patricia Fox, Australian nun living in the

Philippines for 28 years

• Gill Boehringer, Australian, former law professor

The media squeeze

How Duterte weakens the media:

1. Threats against owners and reporters

2. Use of state agencies to squeeze media organizations:

BIR, DOJ, SEC, OSG

3. Use of state resources for disinformation

Rappler, inquirer, abs-

cbn

1. Rappler – license revoked. But Court of Appeals

sided with Rappler. Case is now back with the SEC

for review. Also tax evasion and cyber libel cases.

2. Inquirer –P1B tax evasion case against Prietos in

other business, Dunkin Donuts; threat to file plunder

case.

3. ABS-CBN – threat not to renew franchise which

expires 2020 before Duterte’s term ends.

Mocha

standardDuterte says:

Uson enjoys sacred right to free

speech.

Independent media peddle fake news.

Overwhelming

victory

July 2016: Philippines won its maritime case versus

China

- China’s nine-dash line claim over the South China

Sea declared illegal

- Philippines’ EEZ clarified, shrinking disputed area.

Maritime area is larger than total land area of the

country.

Bromance

trumps rule

of law‘I need China…I love Xi Jinping. He

understands my problem and he is

willing to help.’

- President Duterte, April 2018

‘…I will be dependent on you [China]

for a long time.”

- President Duterte in Beijing, October

2016

Strongmen’s club

Filipinos for

autocratic rule?

• 50% of Filipinos favor autocratic rule

‘Unconstrained executive power has its supporters…This

type of regime is particularly popular in several nations

where executives have extended or consolidated their

power in recent years, such as the Philippines, Russia and

Turkey.’

(source: 2017 Pew Research Center Survey of 38 countries)

How is the philippines

doing, overall?

2017-2018 Rule of Law Index

- The ‘biggest mover’ is the Philippines, dropping18

positions to 88 out of 113 countries (from 70 in 2016).

- Indicators: constraints on government powers; absence

of corruption; open gov’t; fundamental rights; order &

security; regulatory enforcement; civil justice; criminal

justice.

Race to the

bottom

Philippines ranks 13th out of 15

countries in the East Asia and

Pacific Region.

Source: Rule of Law Index 2017-2018