I have been particularly interested in the situation in the Philippines in my role as an expert on the transfer policy of the United States, because I am interested in the consequences of the sale of arms of the United States to repressive regimes. The Duterte government is high on that list. Duterte’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic raises further questions about the nature of his regime and the wisdom of continuing to arm his military and police forces.
As in the United States, Duterte played down the threat posed by the virus and criticized a “hysterical” public response in early February. Now that the virus is spreading across the country, the Duterte regime has taken an extreme militarized approach to a massive public health challenge.
On March 24, the Philippine Congress gave Duterte extraordinary emergency powers, allowing him to run hospitals and public transportation, and reallocate funds in the 2020 budget to fight Covid-19. Critics have said the powers go beyond what is needed to tackle the virus and will simply entrench the current government.
“NO TO EMERGENCY POWERS!” Jay Batongbacal, a law professor at the University of the Philippines, wrote in a Facebook post suggesting that Duterte is abusing the powers he already has. And Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, a group of Filipino lawyers, described the emergency measures as “a trial for martial law” during a webinar sponsored by the Malayan Movement, a Philippine human rights group .
As of Friday, the Philippines had recorded 428 Covid-19 deaths and 6,459 confirmed cases, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University. Al Jazeera has reported that military and police checkpoints are ubiquitous in Manila, the Philippine capital.
Protective equipment has been scarce, according to health workers, although on April 1 the government said it had purchased $ 35 million and was awaiting delivery. Some were delivered last week, and the country has started producing more locally, according to the government.
A revealing fact regarding Duterte’s approach is that, in early April, his regime had arrested almost as many people for violating Covid-19 curfews and blockades as it had done to detect the virus. Also in early April, protesters were arrested after demanding aid from the government, which has taken weeks to start reaching the poorest residents of the country, with the first group of unemployed workers receiving support from March 25 to 26. and the first tranche of cash delivered to the poor in early April.
During the pandemic shutdown, the government has censored journalists and at least one critic on Facebook, according to Human Rights Watch. On April 1, Duterte appeared on television and said his instructions for the military and police to enforce quarantines were: “If they become rebels and fight you and your lives are in danger, kill them!”
Although the country’s legislature refused to grant Duterte more far-reaching powers, an initial bill sought to give Duterte the power to take over private companies and public services, for example, to fight Covid-19, but any additional powers It’s a bad idea. In the case of a leader who rules through threats, he brags about personally killing people and seems to have no restrictions.
While the United States gives the president some authority to direct companies toward emergency production during a crisis, and while many have called on President Donald Trump to make more aggressive use of that statute, it is understandable that giving more being able to Duterte is much more worrisome.
Duterte’s violent approach to Covid-19 is in line with his “war on drugs.” Since the start of the drug war, nearly 30,000 had been killed during that campaign, according to an estimate made last spring. The regime specializes in alleged extrajudicial executions, carried out without the benefit of charges or a trial.
While it has militarized the streets and issued orders to shoot and kill anyone who defends and threatens the lives of the security forces, the Duterte regime has given the military almost full control of the relief effort, and the body oversees your aid disbursement controlled by a panel of current and former generals.
At least one hospital has raised the issue of a lack of protective equipment, while Amnesty International’s executive director in the Philippines has accused security forces of “putting curfew violators inside dog cages” and “hitting people with sticks. “
By failing to criticize Duterte, the United States has indirect responsibility for its repressive approach to Covid-19 and the continuation of the brutal drug war that preceded it.
President Trump had kind words for Duterte before the pandemic and praised him in 2017 for doing an “amazing job on the drug problem.” The United States has provided more than $ 385 million in security aid to the Philippines since 2016, the year Duterte took power, according to the Security Assistance Monitor of the Center for International Policy; and, until Duterte cancels the deal, at least, U.S. forces have regularly participated in military exercises with the Philippine military during Trump’s tenure.
A recent dispute over a decision by the United States to deny entry to the United States by a Philippine senator and the former chief of the Duterte National Police, likely due to his role in human rights abuses, has led a Duterte to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement that had allowed the United States to maintain troops on Philippine soil for joint exercises.
But arms sales and military aid are likely to continue, noting continued cooperation, the US Assistant Secretary of State R. Clarke Cooper mentioned in February a “number of significant acquisitions that the Philippines seeks to carry out with us “, reinforcing the regime in the process.
While the United States could criticize Duterte and use other means to pressure him (in addition to denying entry to a senator and ally), President Trump has chosen to support Duterte in public.
The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) and other human rights groups have called for an end to United States military and arms support to the Duterte government as a lever to end systematic killings and other rights abuses. humans.
And aid to help the country tackle Covid-19 should be channeled through independent nongovernmental organizations that can more efficiently provide aid to the people who need it most.
President Trump is unlikely to take such steps, but Duterte’s mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis and his systematic violations of basic human rights should persuade Congress to do so.
