[Rear View] Duterte rises from his bed to haunt us with the ghost of 2016

Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s appearance before the Senate blue ribbon committee brought back the personal and collective traumas inflicted by a man who won the presidency in 2016 on the promise that he would kill by the thousands. It has become customary, reflex even, to blame those who voted for Duterte for this nightmare. But for six years, a large segment of the population was complicit in his indiscriminate war waged in the slums .

This includes the so-called thinking class. Businessmen, college professors, lawyers, executives, journalists, artists, and former activists embraced Duterte’s merciless drug war. At one point in 2017, the war on drugs was backed by 88% of the population.



In 2021, the number of those supporting the drug war was at 74%. It was a devil’s bargain; the promise of safety and progress in exchange for the lives of society’s dregs. Duterte’s presidency was a curse, a blight on our national conscience that we have yet to acknowledge; the reality that one man unleashed our darkest nature, our latent bloodlust.

For the Duterte administration, the high approval ratings gave them the license to kill not only drug targets but democracy as well. The Bill of Rights was a casualty. Freedom of expression, another.

Civility and informed discourse came under fire. Drug pushers, opposition leaders , crusading journalists , human rights lawyers, and activists were all conveniently branded as enemies. There was a pattern to this madness.

From the Palace, Duterte would verbally attack certain personalities or groups. Then came the online hate, death threats, the red tagging, congressional probes, physical assaults, and in several cases, murder. Duterte’s appearance at the Senate was a reminder that power was once employed to fan hatred and anger, to normalize misogyny, and encourage unlawful acts on the part of law enforcers.

It was also a reminder that for six years we lost the tolerance for opposing views, incivility on display on both sides of the fence. Most analysts portray those six years as the consequence of being swayed by populist rhetoric. That is partly correct.

It is also instructive in how the failure of previous post-EDSA administrations to address poverty and inequality, to guarantee transparency, reliability, empathy, and equal protection of the law primed the public for a Duterte in 2016. By the end of his term, Duterte left a nation divided and millions still mired in poverty , the economy struggling to recover from his administration’s mismanagement of the pandemic. And despite the high body count , the supply of illegal drugs has not been disrupted .

The targets were low-level pushers and runners. Big-time drug lords were practically untouched. When he appeared before the Senate, Duterte defended his bloody drug war with all the vigor he can muster.

Given the assurance by his acolytes that he will be among friends, he hijacked the proceedings , ranting and cursing and arguing with a senator without the slightest admonition from the useless chair. Resource persons in previous public hearings have been badmouthed by senators or cited in contempt for lesser infractions. Unaccustomed to being questioned or contradicted, especially by a woman who happens to be a senator and the only sane voice in the hall , Duterte was visibly uncomfortable and displeased that he now sits on a lower podium, told to listen and answer.

But he did manage to deliver an admission that damns him legally for his past actions . Him, and Senator Ronald de la Rosa, his former police chief. Accountability may finally be exacted.

In 2016, Duterte’s reckless candor was considered a mark of authenticity. But now it is as stale as yesterday’s fish. And by appearing before the Senate still vile and unrepentant, he may have torpedoed his daughter’s presidential ambition.

Duterte told the Senate that if given the chance, he would do it all over again. Old age and declining health makes a comeback in 2028 unlikely. His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte , however, is keen on running.

The father’s demeanor you see in his daughter. And she is eager to bring the country back to 2016. The Senate appearance may well be the best argument against a restoration.

– Rappler.com Joey Salgado is a former journalist, and a government and political communications practitioner. He served as spokesperson for former vice president Jejomar Binay .

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