IS PHILIPPINES TURNING INTO INFORMATIONAL AUTOCRACY?

 

“This statement is false.”

The above statement is the liar paradox -- a classic one -- when a statement contradicts itself. Let’s figure this out. If the statement is true, then it is false. On the flip side, if the statement is false, then it must be true. Aargh! If this makes your head spin, it’s alright, as novelist Jasper Fforde points out, “Paradox is like a double-edged sword; it cuts both ways, and it always cuts deep.”

If you’re starting now to have doubts about your intelligence, it’s normal, as writer Demetri Martin asserts, “A paradox is the kind of thing that is so confusing that when you finally figure it out, you’re not sure if you got it right or not.” Phew.

You could be an intelligent person as Charles Bukowski, poet, novelist, and short-story writer stresses, “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.” Ahem.

As a writer myself, I am fond of paradox – messing with my head and harboring reservations about my thoughts which fosters critical thinking. Author M. Scott Peck, M.D. of the classic The Road Less Traveled presses, “To become keen in paradoxical thinking, you must, as the saying goes, use it or lose it.”

That’s why, the following statements of Manila Standard’s Lito Banayo in his column Will the President collect?  have invited my interest:

“Not until 2016 did we have a president who never set foot nor paid obeisance to our 'beloved' America, and profusely declared admiration, even 'love' for Xi Jinping and the likes of Vladimir Putin, while he cursed Barack Obama.

“Despite this contrast with the Filipino’s obsession with the US of A, PARADOXICALLY [underscoring mine], [Former President Rodrigo Roa] Duterte [FPRRD] has maintained the highest trust and approval ratings.”

Let’s go through such “Filipino’s obsession with the US of A” over the years as reported in Wikipedia:

“The United States was consistently ranked as one of the Philippines’ favorite nations in the world, with 90% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. and 91% viewing Americans favorably in 2002, 90% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. influence positively in 2011, 85% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. and Americans favorably in 2013, and 92% of Filipinos viewing the U.S. favorably in 2015, and 94% having confidence in then-United States President Barack Obama, making the Philippines one of the most pro-American countries in the world.”

Funnily enough, Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project in 2013 showed that Filipinos like the US even more than Americans do. Filipinos have a more “favorable” view (85%) of the American people than the Americans saying they have a “favorable” view (84%) of themselves.

In 2017, Pew Research Center bannered, People in the Philippines Still Favor U.S. Over China, but Gap Is Narrowing, reporting that 78% of Filipinos have a positive view of the U.S. The slide was deemed to be due to Duterte’s war on drugs seen positively by most Filipinos.

In 2019, Social Weather Station survey showed 78% of Filipinos believe the Philippines’ relationship with the US “is more important” than what it has with China.

In 2022, Publicus Asia Inc showed a 75% approval rating of FPRRD as the most popular president of the post-EDSA I era.

In 2023, a Stratbase ADR Institute survey showed that 84% of Filipinos want the country to work with the US in defending its sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea.

PARADOX: FILIPINOS LOVE BOTH DUTERTE AND THE US SURVEY-WISE

In plain words, here’s what a lot of figures above may mean: Filipinos have liked FPRRD despite he has hated acutely the US which Filipinos liked very much.

One possible explanation: The US was not as existential a factor in the lives of the Filipinos as the drug war then. Now that the China and Taiwan conflict is ticking like a time bomb in the South China Sea, the US factor turns out to be a matter of life-and-death situation in the lives of more than 110 million Filipinos. That’s why, we read headlines like: “Snubbed by media, Duterte warns of EDCA bases.” What’s more, his flagship drug war is being debunked in small doses by the looming International Criminal Court probe just lurking around the corner.

Another explanation is put forward profoundly by Inquirer’s Randy David in his column What it takes to think as a nation:

“I can only suppose that it will be one marked by indifference and dysfunctional citizenship…

“When asked by opinion polls where they stand on issues, they will, out of courtesy or conceit, confidently give answers to questions that hold no real meaning to them. Pollsters quantify the weight of their responses to produce approval and satisfaction ratings of public officials – as though people can have true “opinions” on issues about which they are not adequately informed. How many respondents in such surveys can claim enough knowledge of the achievements of the president, the vice president, the senate president, or the chief justice – or what their roles entail – to be able to honestly rate their performance?”

A no-nonsense rhetorical question that is, and so downright demoralizing. On top of that, here’s the overriding question: Why is this happening?

Please read on and together let’s try to dig up and find the key to the answer in the following excerpt of the study A Theory of Informational Autocracy by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman published in the Journal of Public Economics in June 2020:

“How do such non-ideological, softer autocrats [today] manage to hold onto power without using the [violent] methods of their predecessors? We argue that their secret lies in the CONTROL OF INFORMATION. Instead of isolating their countries, imposing ideologies, or terrorizing citizens, such leaders achieve many of the same ends by manipulating public opinion. With the help of censored or CO-OPTED MEDIA, they persuade citizens that they are competent and benevolent; their legitimacy rests on popularity rather than fear.” (Underscoring mine)

IS PHILIPPINES TURNING INTO AN INFORMATIONAL AUTOCRACY?

Let’s take a look at our country’s present informational ecosystem to get an inkling. Excerpts of The Manila Times’ Rigoberto Tiglao’s column Marcos’ advantage: An acquiescent press speak volumes and spot on:

“The [Philippine] Star... can’t offend the Palace, and would be quick to fire any columnist creating trouble for the First Couple… [T]he Philippine Daily Inquirer [PDI] has lost its belligerence... lost a lot when the Duterte administration took away from them the government-owned Mile-Long Commercial Center... likely etched into their heads the lesson that it certainly isn’t financially rewarding to go against a government… Marcos’ cousin, Philip Romualdez, is the husband of Alexandra Prieto, the owning clan’s main representative in running the newspaper.

"Romualdez also owns the tabloid People’s Tonight… Philip’s brother, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, owns the Manila Standard… The Manila Bulletin has always very strictly supported whoever is in power… The Manila Times... owned by Dante A. Ang [senior publicist of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and FPRRD's appointed Special Envoy for International Public Relations]... Daily Tribune... is said to be close to [FPRRD]... among its columnists are former Duterte chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo and presidential special assistant Christopher Lawrence 'Bong' Go...

"I don’t think there’s ever been such a tight hold over the media by an administration.”

Teaching moment: Philstar’s Cito Beltran in his column They are not helping PRRD, hinting at the first step of change, chimes in and gets to the heart of the matter, “We’re all guilty…”

Word to the Wise: “I have a frightening sense that our national leaders are feeling so secure in their approval and trust ratings… amid the busy-ness of their overseas travels…” (David)

Caveat: Only to find out, to the bitter end, those approval and trust numbers may just be paper tigers.

Head collage photos courtesy of Epic Theology, Shutterstock, freepikdotdom, & stockdotadobedotcom

Video clips courtesy of YouTube