Can Duterte do a Hugo Chavez?

Chavez became popular among the poor and oppressed in oil-rich Venezuela when he led a failed coup in 1992 against pro-US president Carlos Andres Perez, for which he was imprisoned for two years.

During his presidency Chavez was a prominent adversary of neo-liberal globalisation. He led the anti-imperialist Bolivarian movement that promoted social justice and equality. As a staunch critic of US imperialism (at the UN he once called then-president George W Bush “the devil”), Chavez faced economic sanctions and a CIA-backed coup in 2002. But despite strong opposition, particularly from the local elite, the Venezuelan hero managed to win three elections and was able to enforce vast social and economic reforms. Chavez died of cancer in 2013, aged 58.

The 71-year-old Duterte, on the other hand, has yet to prove his commitment to upholding the interests of ordinary Filipinos. Although the prospects for peace talks with the leftist National Democratic Front are promising, it’s too early to say if Duterte is indeed a “leftist”, as he claims.

In contrast, rightists appear to dominate his incoming cabinet. He has also been very vocal about his friendship with Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

Much will depend on how far Duterte will go to address the root causes of armed conflict in the country, such as by compelling Congress to enact the agrarian-reform bill, pushing through a national industrialisation programme and building an independent foreign policy.

But does Duterte have the guts to oppose the International Monetary Fund’s economic guidelines and the evils of imperialism?

A just and egalitarian society is not achieved merely by eradicating petty crimes and drug use in slums. It will take much more than that to do a Chavez.

Daniel Aloc

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN)