[The Wide Shot] Past ‘Workforce Kadiliman’ vs ‘Workforce Kasamaan’

Harry Roque, former spokesperson of Rodrigo Duterte, gave us a great snort after he rallied his supporters to battle the forces of darkness.

“Hindi na po ‘to laban ng Duterte at Marcos. Ang laban po ngayon ay puwersa ng kadiliman laban sa puwersa ng… (That is now not a battle between Duterte and Marcos. It is a battle between the forces of darkness towards the forces of…),” Roque yelled, asking his followers to finish his sentence. 

“Kasamaan (Evil)!” his followers responded in refrain. 

Roque, wanting flustered, mentioned in a softer tone as if to appropriate the viewers: “Kabutihan (Goodness).” To which the followers sheepishly responded: “Kabutihan!”

“It is a battle between good or evil!” emphasised Roque on this viral video.

It’s comically tragic that Roque’s rallying cry backfired on him. The opposite tragedy is how political figures like Roque nonetheless use — and plenty of Filipinos nonetheless subscribe to — the political narrative of “good versus evil.”

Past Roque’s “Workforce Kadiliman” (Workforce Darkness) versus “Workforce Kasamaan” (Workforce Evil), it’s time that the Philippines, one of many world’s most deeply spiritual nations, went past the “good versus evil” body in politics.

Japanese scholar Wataru Kusaka, who has carefully studied Philippine politics and even lived within the slums for a yr to grasp the Filipino psyche, mentioned what prevails within the Philippines is named “ethical politics.”

Kusaka, a professor at Tokyo College of Overseas Research, wrote guide on this subject — Ethical Politics within the Philippines: Inequality, Democracy, and the City Poor, revealed by NUS Press Singapore in 2017 — which is now broadly cited by students and is a must-read for anybody wanting to grasp Phlippine politics.

Kusaka defined in his guide: “By ‘ethical politics,’ I imply politics that creates teams which might be seen as both ‘good’ or ‘evil’ and draw a demarcation line between the 2 — in different phrases, politics involved with definitions of excellent and evil. Ethical politics is clearly distinguishable from ‘curiosity politics,’ which is anxious with the distribution of assets.”

Ethical politics and post-EDSA presidents

The rise of ethical politics has characterised Philippine politics after the 1986 EDSA Individuals Energy revolt that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in response to Kusaka’s 2017 journal article, “Bandit Grabbed the State: Duterte’s Ethical Politics.”

Particularly in nationwide elections, he argued, “ethical discourses turned a extra vital determinant of political processes than equipment fueled by cash.” This was confirmed by how “candidates with smaller budgets and weaker group had been capable of defeat their rivals by using ethical appeals in latest presidential elections.”

Projections of morality got here in several varieties, nonetheless, for every post-EDSA president. 

Fidel V. Ramos and Benigno Aquino III each linked themselves to the 1986 legacy of “solidarity of the individuals.” 

Joseph Estrada “exploited one other ethical discourse of ‘kindness to the poor’” — which might have additionally led to the victory of Fernando Poe Jr., in response to Kusaka, “had it not been for vote dishonest by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004.” Kusaka famous how “the sum of the votes gained by Estrada and Manuel Villar, who each used pro-poor discourses, was greater than Aquino’s.”

Rodrigo Duterte, though denounced as immoral by critics such because the Catholic Church, espoused his personal model of ethical politics: “social bandit-like morality.”

This “is characterised by the coexistence of compassion and violence beneath a patriarchal boss who maintains justice exterior of the legislation,” Kusaka wrote. Inside this paradigm, Duterte “insisted that executing unhealthy criminals to be able to save the nation was justifiable from an ethical standpoint, which was superior to the rule of legislation.”

The issue with ethical politics

Now, one may ask, what’s the downside with ethical politics? Shouldn’t morality be our goal?

In his seminal work Ethical Politics within the Philippines, Kusaka mentioned that ethical politics, since it’s primarily based on proper and fallacious, “readily lends itself to zero-sum confrontations that make compromise troublesome.” He added, “By morally justifying the exclusion of others, it threatens the observe of democracy, which is based on plurality.”

Kusaka wrote: “The moralization of politics threatens democracy both by intensifying antagonistic ‘we/they’ relations to the extent that it advocates the exclusion and eradication of the opposite as ‘enemy,’ or by depoliticizing socioeconomic inequality to perpetuate elite rule within the title of the individuals’s ethical solidarity.”

Carmel Abao, who’s now political science division chair of Ateneo de Manila College, raised related factors in 2014, in a Rappler Thought Leaders piece titled “2016 presidential decisions: Past good or evil.”

On this piece on the 2016 presidential election, Abao wrote that “it might now not be sufficient to decide on between a ‘good’ or ‘evil’ presidential candidate (or worse, between two or extra ‘evils’).” 

“Discerning electoral decisions should entail not simply an moral/moralistic perspective but in addition an institutionalist one. The latter is vital as a result of electoral decisions are political decisions and politics is basically concerning the banal, complicated process of organizing society by means of establishments. It isn’t about paths to a metaphysical heaven or hell. In electoral workouts, thus, even one’s idea of what’s good and what’s evil has to have some metrics,” Abao mentioned.

She mentioned voters shouldn’t select a president in haste, and may push for at the least two issues: “free and knowledgeable selection and democratic get together politics.” 

“We don’t want one other hero or a warrior or a saint. We simply want somebody who’s visibly intent on deepening Philippine democracy,” she added.

The function of religion communities

Reversing this “good versus evil” mindset, nonetheless, requires a lot effort not solely from the political sphere but in addition from faith-based communities. Lots of our psychological frameworks, in spite of everything, are rooted in spiritual worldviews. Our day-to-day decision-making on what is true or fallacious, good or evil, can affect even our decisions within the voting precincts.

Conditioned by spiritual upbringing, the understanding of morality as “black and white” has weakened our skill to navigate the numerous grey areas of life, together with our politics. The “good versus evil” narrative, then, turns into a handy fallback when issues get difficult… or when it fits the agenda of politicians like Roque. 

However we want an citizens that understands context — that’s to say, historical past, motives, concrete achievements and incompetencies — and goes past depictions that “this politician is nice” or “this politician is evil” on the premise of the newest political information. 

To quote a latest instance, have a look at lots of the Home lawmakers who now query and grill Vice President Sara Duterte over her workplace’s funds. Are they heroes or villains? Sinners or saints? 

In his newest political evaluation, Rappler reporter Dwight de Leon factors out how the identical Home lawmakers gave Duterte a “free move” in earlier years. Marikina 2nd District Consultant Stella Quimbo, who presided over the latest Home funds listening to that Duterte resented, was in reality a key defender of Duterte’s confidential funds final yr. 

The winds of politics have modified, nonetheless, given Duterte’s rift with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his cousin, Home Speaker Martin Romualdez. Home lawmakers, who take their cue from the President, “at the moment are extra relaxed” criticizing Duterte. 

If villains can flip into heroes primarily based on a President’s prerogatives, then the “battle between good or evil” will all the time fall brief when utilized to politics.

The phrases of Pope Francis in August 2016, whereas initially in reference to priestly formation, additionally apply to the issue of ethical politics: “In life, not all the pieces is black over white or white over black. No! The shades of grey prevail in life. We should educate them to discern on this grey space.”

In politics and even in morality, perspective is the enemy of the simplistic.

The true darkness, the true evil, is the one which pretends the grey doesn’t exist. – Rappler.com