POWER HUNGRY: Super Powers the Duterte Administration Failed to Tap Into

"Strangely empty streets. From one empty shelf to another in supermarkets. Closed shops. Factory Closures. Curfews being implemented. Military and medical personnel are manning checkpoints. Class suspensions. People are staying at home. People are working from home. Socializing is restricted. Uncertainty and fear among people dominate.  These are the "new normal" as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID - 19) has been declared a public health emergency of international concern."

The above quote is an excerpt from Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto and Senator Pia Cayetano's proposed and poorly-written Senate Bill No. 1418 otherwise known as the "We Heal as One Act" that primarily seeks to provide President Rodrigo Duterte special powers bound by the Senate's imposed limitations on the private sector, transportation, security measures, and others. A similar bill, HB 6616 has also been discussed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to the members of the House of Representatives last March 23, bearing the exact same contents down to the letter. 

These "super powers" are merely handpicked quirks poorly amalgamated to make it appear as a necessity. In reality, is only serves the president to the best of his interest and in the process of it, he evades through the corrupt walls of a pretentious democracy, leaving behind the original powers he had that had not been tapped into even before the COVID-19 crisis began. 

For starters, he failed to utilize his executive powers to isolate the Philippines from countries that potentially harbor the Coronavirus. Despite the various pleas to cancel all International Flights to and from China, the administration favored amicable relationships with the colossal country. Chinese tourists were therefore unrivaled in wreaking all kinds of havoc through the still-operational Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs), disrespectful behavior that goes against the community, and other benefits that rendered the Chinese anarchic in the country. 

Secondly is the failure to conduct and appreciate the importance of mass testing. Testing was dealt with no serious measures at all. In spite of the World Health Organization's (WHO) announcement to continuously conduct tests, the administration still ignored it. It cannot be denied that the country's experts are only armed with rudimentary knowledge about the virus, much less making do with "washing hands" and "staying inside the house." Although these are important procedures when facing the virus, doctors and scientists are not justifiably funded nor treated with dignity as regards their professional pursuits. Albeit lacking support, there has been various scientific breakthroughs initiated by academic institutions like the University of the Philippines, and certain Local Government Entities like the Laboratory Testing Center Proposals in Marikina City. There are also initiatives coming from scholars and relevant professionals like SaniTents PH led and organized by UP Alumni. However, inattention towards these projects hitherto is very much evident. In spite of the rich academic and scientific impetus that may drastically change the scales of the crisis, still the administration turns a blind eye. 

Ultimately, in order for these projects to materialize, there needs to be appropriate budget allocations for Emergency Funds, Health, and Scientific Research. But apparently there are no sets of funds available that was worth reallocating the 4.5 billion-peso budget allocation for the Presidential budget's Intelligence Fund - almost half of the P8.28-billion Presidential budget in 2020 (Rappler, 2020). Instead of reallocating funds from certain outstandingly funded departments like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Tourism (DOT), the government resorted to debt, with 30% of it planned to be collected from foreign debt. Foreign debt would further damn the situation and potentially leave the country's economy in shambles and at the mercy of neoliberal policies should it survive the pandemic. This would mean more laws being drafted in favor of foreign dominance, more investments without transparent and secure capital (portfolio investments), more foreign workers stealing Filipino jobs, and more islands and territories to sell. This indeed is not a future worth surviving into. 

The administration also failed to impose absolute power over the Private Sector. Instead of providing employment security (starting from wages to benefits), government has not yet provided even a mere set of guidelines written into cold, unassailable laws to protect the interests of the working force. Only in this event have the large-scale entrepreneurs realized that the heart of their businesses were not their establishments - they were the workers. And they cannot afford to lose them even in a single day. However, the private sector has undeniably been anarchic and stubborn in terms of providing compensations for hazard.

The work-from-home scheme is deemed dogmatic in the face of various job types. Basically, everything about the operations of the industry is put into vague terms and commitments, and the lack of power and rule over these businesses are to blame. The answer to this is a nationalized wage scheme as well as a ban on contractualization. Therefore the solutions were already provided, and it did not even need a single speck of special power to do that.

Lastly, international relations are needed now more than ever. Third-World countries like the Philippines need to learn from other neighboring countries in terms of government practice and social work. However, the administration as well as the majority of its members are stuck in the blind ambition of the Philippines being a "middle-economy," orated by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III in utmost stupidity and ignorance. In times of crisis, the international arena gets to have a say in terms of the situational assessment of countries especially in today's pandemic. Ever since the country sided to the also thick-headed China, it has acted all too arrogant towards other neighboring countries and insists that they remove their influence over its territory. 

What the public needs to reflect on is the fact that the administration relies on the uniformity of command and the absolute rule of singularity. In contrast to this, the diversity of participation is necessary in terms of running a country with a healthy practice on criticism and appreciation. What the administration is ought to realize is that it cannot force the virus into a corner with the use of guns and iron will. In the face of chaos it is surprising that the administration enjoys the luxury of complacency, but they cannot expect the public to remain calm. The faulty government itself is at fault for the mass hysteria, due to the fact that their integrity has failed to reach the genuine trust of its constituents. Therefore in the loss of reason and in times of extreme doubt, it is but in this tumultuous time that the country needs to get a grasp of the situation in a scientific and materialistic viewpoint. 

The provision of special powers to the president is therefore, not necessary in this crisis. This is merely an imposition of rule over material resources. Moreover, the vagueness of these special powers poses a threat to the security of the people, simply because there are no parameters nor any hint of limitations to the extent of the Executive Power. If anything, it's traits develop into one of the most forbidden and heartless of all power: Martial Rule. Tapping into such would only lead to the defamation and compromise of Philippine Democracy, and will in fact corrupt it into a misconception of a "Disciplined Democracy," only to realize one day that the citizens are living in harsh tyranny in broad daylight - the very evil democracy toppled over in 1986. 

Unless the administration strays from the path of wickedness, it will be denied of the purest form of power that even the quasi-Martial Law is at mercy of: collective unity and international solidarity. And surely enough, it will indeed be in the receiving end of that very wrath that's about to come by storm. 

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*Photos taken from Google

**Photos edited on Photopea