LettersUnder Duterte, is there still a point in celebrating People Power?

This brings into question the kind of electoral public that has evolved over time, from one that ousted the Marcos dictatorship in 1986 to one that has now seemingly forgotten what it felt like to be robbed of our inalienable rights decades before the People Power uprising in Edsa. Not only is public activism and civil disobedience frequently policed by Duterte’s government, its supporters also heavily troll on social media those that question policy inefficacies of government institutions and actors.

When researcher Cleve Arguelles claims that “We are Rodridgo Duterte”, he doesn’t just illuminate another angle – that of public activism – to Thompson’s metamorphosis description. Arguelles also effectively underscores the kind of moral conscience present among Duterte’s urban poor supporters – the populist public – amid the government’s anti-poor stance, from the war on drugs and summary killings to the militarisation of pandemic response.

The populist public’s long-time exhaustion with failed neoliberal promises of development from past administrations provoked them to seek a politically authentic figure that sweeps the law aside to bring order.

Four years into Duterte’s administration, his enduring popularity is at odds with the lack of full realisation of his plans to curb poverty, corruption and criminality. The challenge now (partly) rests on the continuing metamorphosis of public activism – if not of the government – to sway the populist public into accepting a politics grounded on inclusion.

As the 2022 national elections near, the rhetoric of public activism must shift to a more empathetic discourse that doesn’t necessarily attack the “low morale” of urban poor voters. Until this is present, the point of commemorating Edsa People Power remains amiss.