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Abstract
In the Philippines, the year 2016 can be characterized in terms of choices, changes, and challenges. As an election year, the people once again chose a new set of leaders from the president down to the local level. From the five candidates for the presidency, Rodrigo Duterte of Davao emerged as the victor. His rise to the top has led to several changes in terms of presidential style, management, and politics. His war on drugs received both acclamations and criticisms from various sectors in the Philippines and abroad. The first six months of the Duterte administration is not without its share of issues and controversies, ranging from domestic issues such as the Marcos burial to international ones like the perceived anti-United States and pro-China and Russia foreign policy. But challenges, like the federalism campaign and peace talks with the rebels, remain as the Philippines end the year and move forward to 2017.
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the comments and suggestions from Professor Maria Ela L. Atienza and the editorial board of the Philippine Political Science Journal, and some additional insights from Vince Renzo M. Liban. However, he assumes full responsibility for the final manuscript.
Notes
1. Two points: first, I argue that there has been a change in political leadership since there were indeed some changes, i.e. a new president and a new vice president; second, I also argue that there is simply a new set of elites occupying government positions, particularly in the executive branch. Thus, there is no substantive change.
2. His Philippine Political Science Journal article was entitled: “The Philippines in 2015: the calm before the political storm”.
3. Senators are elected for a six-year term. The first half ended their term in 2016. The remainder, with three years remaining for their term, will end theirs in 2019.
4. This figure changes depending on the total number of district representatives. According to the 1987 Constitution, party-list representatives should compose 20% of the total membership of the House of Representatives.
5. The figures are from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). Other statistics can be accessed through this link: http://www.comelec.gov.ph/?r=2016NLE/Statistics
6. There are actually several different figures. The Philippine Star counts the unopposed candidates at 558, the Philippine Daily Inquirer counts 542. Rappler’s count is 545. ABS-CBN gives two figures: (1) 545, which is similar to Rappler’s, and (2) a higher number, 746, is claimed to be from the COMELEC. I decided to use 545 since there are at least two sources for the figure. In any case, all news organizations claim they got their data from COMELEC.
7. This is according to a COMELEC official in Talisay, Batangas, in an interview with ABS-CBN News. Her statement can be accessed through this link: http://news.abs-cbn.com/halalan2016/nation/02/08/16/number-of-unopposed-candidates-rising
8. This is according to Professor Alejandro Ciencia Jr. of the University of the Philippines Baguio, in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. His statement can be accessed at: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/776322/arroyo-imee-lead-unopposed-bets
9. This is Bautista’s remark in a chance interview with Rappler. His statement can be accessed at: http://www.rappler.com/nation/politics/elections/2016/132483-comelec-voter-turnout-record-breaking
10. There are a number of commentaries online. One is by Maria Isabel Buenaobra of the Asia Foundation: http://asiafoundation.org/2016/04/27/social-media-a-game-changer-in-philippine-elections/
11. This is a photo/video-sharing mobile application available both in Android and iOS.
12. This is according to Carlo Ople, a digital analyst: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/742458/social-media-and-the-2016-national-elections
13. While Mocha Uson (born Margaux) was already a celebrity prior to the 2016 general election campaign, she became even more popular after Duterte won the presidency.
14. These are terms or tags used to locate entries in social media. In traditional forms, these are keywords. It is called a hashtag since it is preceded by a hash sign (#).
15. The Liberal Party’s campaign color is yellow; thus, “yellowtard”. “Dutertard” is, obviously, from the surname Duterte.
16. This is according to a survey by Pulse Asia in 2013. It might be quite dated, though.
17. PiliPinas is a play on the word “Pilipinas”, which is the Filipino translation of the Philippines. It is also a compound word for “Pili” which means choose and “Pinas” which is the short name for Pilipinas.
18. There were also allegations of cheating during the 1992 presidential elections.
19. Señeres withdrew his candidacy later, and died before the election.
20. This is based on the report in The Philippine Star: http://www.philstar.com/news-feature/2016/02/21/1554822/how-watch-mindanao-presidential-debate
21. This is based on the report in The Philippine Star: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/04/25/1576628/prof-candidates-stood-out-their-own-rights
22. This is for the GMA and ABS-CBN hosted debates. See the reports at: http://www.pep.ph/guide/tv/23221/empilipinas-debateem-is-highest-rating-gma-7-program-based-on-agb-nutam and http://news.abs-cbn.com/halalan2016/lifestyle/04/25/16/presidential-town-hall-debate-sets-record-on-tv-social-media
23. SET Case No. 001–15, David vs Poe-Llamanzares. Three member-justices of the SET, Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, and Arturo Brion, and Senator Nancy Binay voted to grant the petition. Five senators, Pia Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Cynthia Villar, Bam Aquino, and Vicente Sotto III, voted to deny the petition. Rizalino David, a losing senatorial candidate, filed the petition.
24. GR Nos. 221697 and 221698–700, Poe-Llamanzares vs COMELEC et al. With a vote of 9–6, Poe was declared qualified to run for president. The nine justices for Poe were Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Presbiterio Velasco, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez, Jose Mendoza, Marvic Leonen, Francis Jardeleza and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa. The six justices who voted against were Associate Justices Carpio, Leonardo-De Castro, Brion, Mariano Del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, and Bienvenido Reyes.
25. This is according to the estimates of Alvarez, who at that time had secured a supermajority: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/08/1590856/duterte-secures-super-majority-house
26. Pimentel’s statement can be accessed at: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/06/08/1590856/duterte-secures-super-majority-house
27. The figures here are from the PNP press release on 13 January 2017 about their achievements for the second half of 2016: http://pnp.gov.ph/39-press-releases-parent-cat/695-pnp-hauls-3-7-billion-from-18-regions-in-six-months
28. This portion of the statement was quoted from a news report in the Manila Bulletin: http://news.mb.com.ph/2016/12/28/bato-70-of-pnp-target-in-war-on-drugs-accomplished/
29. National University of Singapore research fellow Joseph Franco talks about this issue: https://theglobalobservatory.org/2016/08/philippines-duterte-drugs-extrajudicial-killing-tokhang/
30. This statement by the president has been documented by various media organizations. Two reports are: http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/08/17/drug-war-only-targeting-the-poor-thats-how-it-is-says-duterte and http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/883818/duterte-to-poor-if-you-die-im-sorry The presidential spokesperson would eventually backtrack and assert that the drug war is not anti-poor.
31. Greg Rushford of Foreign Policy wrote a short analysis of US‒Philippines and China‒Philippines relations: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/17/what-rodrigo-duterte-is-giving-up-philippines-china-hague-south-china-sea/
32. Comments by Randy David (http://opinion.inquirer.net/97829/foreign-policy-duterte), Jose Romero (http://www.manilatimes.net/duterte-foreign-policy/296135/), Richard Heydarian (https://amti.csis.org/duterte-trump-changing-foreign-policy/), and reports quoting analysts and former diplomats (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/588135/news/nation/duterte-plus-trump-to-create-more-problems-up-prof; http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/10/11/1632561/philippine-foreign-policy-should-be-interdependent-says-analyst) are available online.
33. Some of the news reports about the confusion over Yasay’s statements can be found at: http://www.rappler.com/nation/162557-yasay-ownership-west-philippine-sea-islands; http://www.rappler.com/nation/147484-yasay-west-philippine-sea-ruling-united-nations; and http://www.rappler.com/nation/154315-dfa-yasay-duterte-foreign-policy-statements
34. Quoting Rappler’s article on Arroyo’s plunder case: http://www.rappler.com/nation/140200-supreme-court-ruling-gloria-arroyo
35. See for more details: http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2016/07/19/Gloria-Macapagal-Arroyo.html
36. See the report in the Inquirer on her appointment: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/804840/arroyo-now-a-deputy-speaker
37. Quoted from the Inquirer report: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/785024/ex-comelec-chair-abalos-acquitted-from-graft-over-nbn-zte-deal
40. https://www.rt.com/news/371597-philippine-duterte-burn-un/
41. See: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/146274/duterte-to-u-s-eu-un-we-wont-beg-for-your-assistance
42. See: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/10/24/1636864/dswd-chief-taguiwalo-foreign-aid-not-needed-now
44. There were already instances when foreign aid agencies did not provide assistance to the Philippines, such as during typhoon Lawin: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/147530/no-foreign-aid-yet-for-victims-of-supertyphoon-lawin
46. See: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/848748/duterte-i-heard-of-erc-corruption-even-before-villas-suicide
52. See: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/02/10/1670916/bangsamoro-transition-commission-members-named
53. http://opinion.inquirer.net/98909/peace-talks-with-cpp-from-impasse-to-breakthrough-to-breakthrough
54. Ibid.
55. For a complete timeline of events, see ABS-CBN’s report: http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/02/03/17/timeline-govt-cpp-npa-ceasefire-breakdown