While much of the world remains preoccupied by COVID-19, the Duterte government in the Philippines has launched a raft of authoritarian measures. Draconian anti-terrorism legislation and attacks on media freedom have now emerged, along with continued widespread use of extrajudicial violence.
The Duterte government’s main response to the pandemic was highly militarised, with widespread use of roadblocks to enforce lockdowns, as opposed to mass testing and treatment. This month, the president signed the 2020 Anti-Terrorism Act, which provides a vague and overly broad definition of terrorism and permits warrantless arrests. It allows authorities to hold individuals in custody for up to 24 days without charge.
There is widespread opposition and several legal challenges to the new law, alleging that it breaches the Philippines constitution. Adopted in the aftermath of the Marcos dictatorship, the 1987 constitution established strong protections for civil and political rights.
There are very real fears the anti-terror law could lead to a further intensification of extrajudicial killings by security forces and vigilantes. The United Nations Human Rights Council issued a report on 5 June that found “widespread and systematic killings and arbitrary detention in the context of the war on drugs, killings and abuses targeting farmers and indigenous peoples, the silencing of independent media, critics and the opposition”.
An estimated 8,663 people (including 73 children) have been killed in “the war on drugs”. At least 208 human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists have been killed since 2015.
The legislation also comes in the wake of increased attacks on media institutions. ABS-CBN media abruptly stopped broadcasting on 5 May after receiving a “desist order” from the country’s media regulator. One of two major broadcasting groups in the Philippines, ABS-CBN controls 42 television stations, 10 digital broadcast channels, 18 FM and five AM radio stations.
The network’s conflicts with government started some time ago. It allegedly refused to broadcast advertisements for Duterte’s campaign in the 2016 presidential election.
All television licences require government legislation, and ABS-CBN’s franchise expired at the end of March. Congress began the process of renewal only after the network apologised to Duterte in February. On 10 July, 70 of Duterte allies within the 85-person congressional investigation committee voted against granting another 25-year licence. Numerous hearings and testimony had established the channel had not violated legal provisions.
Controlled by the Lopez wing of the Philippine oligarchy and, like many mass commercial media networks, ABS-CBN is hardly a source of staunch criticism of Philippine politics and society. The dispute, however, highlights deep rifts and conflicts between more established sections of the oligarchy and Duterte’s government.
Duterte represents the more provincial components of the elite and maintains popularity through a populist law and order agenda.
Other attacks on press freedom include the conviction of Maria Ressa from the Rappler internet news service on 15 June for “cyberlibel”. Her arrest and conviction followed a complaint filed by Wilfredo Keng, a businessman connected to Duterte, over an article published in 2012.
Rappler has been a strong critic of the government’s human rights abuses, Duterte accusing it of being a “fake news outlet”. Rappler, however, represents a broader current of progressive investigative journalists that originated in the anti-dictatorship struggle of the 1970s and 1980s.
Duterte remains popular despite these abuses, maintaining a “tough on crime” image. Deep divisions exist within the capitalist and landlord elite over his rule. A small opposition movement continues to resist the increase in repression.
“I’m exhausted”, declared West Australian Premier Mark McGowan when announcing his resignation at a press conference on 29 May. So too are the state’s 40,000 nurses, who, under McGowan’s government, have confronted daily staff shortages, declining real wages and attacks on their union.
Wildfires are tearing through the Canadian province of Alberta, the heart of Canada’s lucrative oil and gas industry. The images of orange and black skies from the thick smoke—which is now billowing across the US border, causing air quality warnings in several northern states—are dystopian yet familiar.
While most of us are being hit hard by the biggest cost of living crisis in a generation, Australia’s “big four” banks—Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB—have had a record-breaking start to the financial year, posting a combined half-year profit of $17.1 billion. That’s a 19 percent increase from the equivalent period in 2021, and $1.3 billion more than the previous record of $15.8 billion in 2015.
“You’re just a performing fucking monkey”. A racist barb, and one of many pointed moments in Jacky, a Melbourne Theatre Company production currently playing at the Arts Centre. Jacky is about the politics of performing monkeys. It is about racism and exploitation, hypocrisy and resistance.
Academic workers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have achieved a stunning victory with a serious campaign of industrial action, centred on an open-ended strike. Their approach is a model for unionists in Australia.
NTEU Fightback, a rank-and-file union group of the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Sydney, is calling on staff to vote No in the upcoming ballot on the proposed enterprise agreement. The campaign was launched at a forum on 25 May, attended by over 50 people. A members’ meeting on 13 June will consider the agreement. This week will probably be the first time that members are provided with a full list of proposed changes to our working conditions.