Power Sheet – May 9, 2016

Remember that the Philippines have been a democracy since 1986, when Corazon Aquino, mother of current President Benigno Aquino III, was elected president. By law he can’t run for re-election, and he urged the other candidates to unite against Duterte, but they refused; Duterte needs only a plurality to win. At his campaign rallies, which in some cases attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters, he essentially promised to end democracy – to declare “a revolutionary government” – if congress thwarts his will. He bragged about overseeing the killing of hundreds of alleged criminals, without trials, as mayor of the the city of Davao, and he promised to kill thousands more – to “fill Manila Bay with their bodies” – to impose order if elected president.

In his heavily Catholic country he called Pope Francis “the son of a whore,” and he routinely dismisses critics in language you will not read in Power Sheet. He made a joke about an Australian nun who was raped and killed in the Philippines; when the ambassadors of Australia and the U.S. objected, he told them to “shut up.” He angrily denied media reports that he had a secret bank account filled with wealth from payoffs until a journalist proved its existence by making a deposit. He then admitted it, shrugged, and made a joke.

His followers love all of it. The more he insults everyone in power and promises to blow up the system, the more popular he becomes. The Philippine economy has been growing smartly, but millions of Filipinos remain grindingly poor, and rampant crime makes their lives miserable. They’re desperate for a candidate who talks like them and promises the magic of a sudden solution to their problems, and never mind the niceties of how he’d do it. His supporters are not a majority of Filipinos; polls show that they’re only about 30% of the voting public. But under the rules, that may be enough.

Duterte gave them exactly what they wanted, and he is probably the Philippines’ next president. But his tough-talking campaign strategy was the opposite of courage. It’s often said that bullies are the biggest cowards, and he’s a stellar example.

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