‘Dictator’ Duterte’s candor and his other revelations

Credit his crude or brutal candor, beyond his many contradictory or flip-flopping pronouncements on a wide range of issues. From his meandering speeches we are learning more and more about President Duterte’s thinking, his probably long-held views since he was Davao City mayor for over 20 years, and his concerns.

Two days ago, speaking at a dinner in Malacanang with 215 “former communist rebels,” who had been flown in from Davao by a military transport plane, Duterte was quoted in media as saying (translated from Cebuano):

“If you say dictator, I am really a dictator. Because if I don’t [act like a] dictator, son of a bitch, nothing will happen to this nation.” “That’s true,” he emphasized, “if I don’t [act like a] dictator – my style now – nothing will happen to this country.”

Earlier, in the same vein, the President admitted the accusation of militant activists that he had become a tyrant – a “fascist” brutally repressing democratic and other human rights, both in dealing with protest actions in the urban areas and pursuing counterinsurgency operations in the countryside. But he has resented being tagged as a puppet of US imperialism, particularly after he had cozied up to President Donald Trump, playfully referring to the latter as “my commander-in-chief,” during the Asean summit dinner in November.

Let’s look further into what Duterte told the alleged rebel returnees in Malacanang, as recorded by his communications team:

• He commended them for having decided to “return to the fold of the law,” saying that communism is no longer relevant since the former Soviet Union (which unravelled under revisionist leadership and consequently disintegrated) and China “embraced capitalism and became successful.” He even offered to send the 48 women among the “exrebels” to Hong Kong and China so that they could “grasp the success of capitalism” in the former socialist state. “Do you want to go to Hong Kong? All my female soldiers who fought in Marawi, from the police and the military, I sent them to Hong Kong for a vacation. And it may be the same for you,” he said.

• He offered to send their bright children to the “top universities” while advising them to go to the TESDA to acquire skills like dressmaking for the women and carpentry, plumbing, and electrical skills for the men. His government is encouraging foreign investments, particularly from China, he said, to create jobs in the country that would require skilled workers.

• For those who would opt to go into agriculture, he promised to provide tractors to cooperatives that the ex-rebels could organize in their preferred communities, for which the government would provide security. As for direct employment in the government, he urged the men to enlist as soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Speaking earlier (Feb. 1) at an indigenous people’s “summit” organized by the AFP in Panacan, Davao City, Duterte made a significant disclosure regarding his claim of being a “Leftist” or “socialist.”

“These communists, they were my friends, no doubt about it,” he told his audience, reminding them that they had been witnesses to his frequent trips to the mountains to talk to the leaders of the New People’s Army (NPA). But the reason why he did that, he pointed out, was because “the situation was becoming bothersome.”

He ranted about some incidents wherein the NPA allegedly committed abuses against the lumad (indigenous peoples). He accused the NPA of making the IPs fight the government by organizing them into militia units to fight the CAFGUs (the AFP’s adjunct paramilitary groups). Then he homed in on his key twin accusations: the revolutionary forces engage in extortion, and they aim to take over the government. (These are the two reasons Duterte has kept citing for scuttling the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations since November.)

Shifting topic, Duterte acknowledged that for so long the government had “abandoned” the indigenous peoples. But, he hastened to add, his government was doing its best “to do something to solve the problem.” He blamed the IPs allegedly for not utilizing their ancestral domains that the government had recognized. Pointing to maps of IP areas reportedly under the influence of the NPA, he offered this solution:

He would decide for the IPs how their lands should be used, purportedly to prevent graft and corruption. “I will select who would be the investors [to develop the lands],” he said. “We will use these. Don’t get mad. I’m just being brutally frank with you. After all, my grandmother was a Maranao. We are all the same.”

The reality is that significant sections of the lumad communities in Mindanao have become politically aware of their rights – specifically their rights to their ancestral domains. They have organized themselves to protect and preserve their lands and natural resources, vigorously opposing the intrusion of big mining firms and agricultural plantations. Thus, Duterte’s offer to personally select the investors who would “develop” their lands (such as for palm oil plantations) is perceived to be anathema to their interest and welfare.

“If you don’t want mining, fine. If you want agriculture alone, I will set aside P100 million for you,” Duterte cajoled the tribal leaders. However, he added: “Prepare yourselves for the eventual relocation, if that is what you want. But as of now, if you think that is dangerous, I will build temporary shelters and make [them] permanent, like what I gave to the Moros of Lanao.”

He also promised jobs to the lumad – specifically for the men to become CAFGU members, provided they complete their high school education.

Note that in both his offers to the “ex-rebels” to enlist into the AFP and to the lumad to become CAFGU members, Duterte is, in effect, enlisting them into his “all-out war” against the CPP-NPA currently being implemented under its revised counterinsurgency program with this misnomer: Oplan Kapayapaan. He treads the path that all his predecessors starting from Marcos had traversed, ignoring the fact that all have failed strategically from attaining their goals.

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