“The prevailing law threatened one with trouble, even put one in trouble, all to keep one out of trouble. Hence, I concluded that trouble is inevitable and the task, how best to make it, what best way to be in it.”
Philippine Politics and The People’s Campaign
If one looks for tranquility and predictability, they do not go looking for it in Philippine politics. The upcoming elections in the Philippines have been constant proof of the matter. While the frontrunner, Bongbong Marcos, still has a clear lead, Vice President Leni Robredo has made the former’s lead turbulent, showing a rise in survey numbers. However, no one is backing down. Third placer Isko Moreno maintains ground, stating that he is still the top second-choice candidate. Some candidates have also shown a change in rhetoric, seen in Lacson-Sotto’s “Sinong Pang Giyera Mo?” slogan and in Isko-Ong’s “Two Joints”.
The Robredo camp, for its part, have also bolstered their efforts for the campaign. Last March 21, Pasig city saw waves of pink in their streets, all campaigning for Leni Robredo’s bid. The so-called PasigLaban had an estimate of 180,000 attendees, the biggest one at the time. Almost 3 weeks later, Pampanga claimed this record, able to garner 220,000 attendees. Together with these grand rallies, the Robredo camp has also launched a house-to-house campaign, led by the Robredo daughters - Tricia and Aika - along with celebrities like Angel Locsin and Sam Concepcion. Hence, an image in shades of pink appears as the main symbol of Robredo's campaign. It takes many forms: the “frappuccino-sipping” middle class is seen next to the farmers in shades of green and pink. The biggest branding of the Robredo campaign depends not on the leader taking the limelight, but on the different grassroots movements that continue to support her, cutting through intersectional differences.
The Panic Button
It then comes as no surprise that candidates have reacted to threats to their candidacy. Last April 16, news surfaced that Moreno, Lacson, Pacquiao, Abella, and Gonzales will hold an Easter Sunday press conference. The next day, Moreno-Ong and Lacson-Sotto tandems, along with Norberto Gonzales showed up at The Manila Peninsula. The main thesis was simple: they will not back down in the race for the presidency. However, the press conference showed a peculiar tone. Instead of targeting the frontrunner, the men have decided to call for Robredo’s withdrawal, claiming that it will be the “ultimate sacrifice” that shows her love for the Filipino people. This straightforward call has since been denounced by Ping Lacson immediately after the press conference while Norberto Gonzalez issued an apology days later. In a truly unpredictable fashion, the laggers of the 2022 elections have decided to push their panic button, only their final push was not an attack on the supposed winner, but on the number two. What seems to be more contradictory was the claim that the Robredo camp had already failed to topple the Marcos giant, all while asking her to withdraw. The press conference seems to be an irrational choice for an election that usually runs on pragmatism. In the end, the press conference does not seem to provide the laggers with a real gain for the elections. So how do we make sense of this? We may find the answer in feminist politics.
The Gendered Politics
Politics is gendered. The power relations - or the “who gets what, when, and where” - of politics are and have always been affected by different norms of gender. The case of Philippine politics and economy is no different. The country has constantly used women as labor exports for domestic work, a phenomenon that caused “domestic insecurities” and created pushbacks primarily due to the violence that women experienced from their host countries. This dislocation has resulted in Filipinas being servants of globalization, working as domestic workers.
The same gendered nature is seen in the government. A study has shown that Duterte positions himself as a hypermasculine populist in front of Filipina migrants. Others have seen Duterte as “the Punisher”, who positions himself as the strong father figure of the country. As a result, he enacts his own politics of life and death by disciplining women into reproductive entities, all while holding the supreme power of taking life.
Hence, it is not impossible to see the 2022 elections as a gendered issue. Earlier in the elections, Rodrigo Duterte already warned his daughter not to run for the highest office, saying that the presidency is a man’s job; a woman is not emotionally capable of running a country. Gendered attacks on the Robredo camp have also been apparent. Lewd photos have been used as smear tactics against one of the Robredo daughters, clear use of sexual acts as a way to discredit the Robredo camp. This is not new to the country’s politics. In 2017, they attacked Sen. Leila De Lima, accusing her of being an immoral woman and pinning her to a sex tape that was later proven to be untrue. The panic button of a press conference is no exception to these gendered attacks. This claim is echoed by Atty. Barry Gutierrez who called the act a reflection of fragility and toxicity.
The Masculine Discourse
In the Manila Peninsula press conference, Isko Moreno claims that all candidates present have been pressured to withdraw by the Robredo camp, wording it out colorfully as “hinuhubaran kami.” In this line, the body is used as a metaphor; Robredo strips down the candidates, leaving them naked to the scrutiny of her rabid supporters. The concept of nakedness as a metaphor incites a gendered tone: the laggers are stripped of their masculinity as a woman continues to dominate them in survey results. Unsurprisingly, the famous names of those who incited this press conference have had patriarchal stances, whether implicit or explicit, in their rhetoric and political history.
In 2020, Manila City Police harassed members of the LGBTQIA community during their celebration of pride march. A year prior to the said incident, Mayor Isko Moreno claimed that the City of Manila gives “equal treatment” to the members of the LGBTQIA community. Hence, it seems questionable to hear him say that he will not forget the community if he wins the presidential election, considering that he has done precisely that in the past. His stances on the protection of women are also rocky, saying no to abortion even for raped women and being on the fence on the raising of the age of consent.
Ping Lacson’s masculinity is also a good subject of inquiry. Last February, he reunited with his so-called “Macho Bloc”. Among these men are former AFP Gringo Honasan and PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar. While agreeing with the policy of divorce, it must be recalled that back in 2019, Lacson proposed that it could only happen once, calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime” divorce, to protect the sanctity of marriage. His tandem, Sotto, on the other hand, has been more outspoken about his thoughts on the LGBTQIA community. He claims to be in favor of the community, despite his very vivid remark of pride as one of the seven deadly sins. At some point, he even suggested calling the community “homo sapiens” instead. He has also blocked a needle exchange program in the Philippines back in 2015, comparing the HIV-risk reduction project to giving murderers clean knives. But perhaps the most open to a feminist inquiry is the tandem’s “Sinong Pang Giyera Mo?” slogan. War has been seen as a masculine activity for a long time. Women are seen to either be unable to fulfill armed duties or are designated to perform “nonviolent womanhood”. Hence, the slogan, regardless of intentionality, is gendered.
In calling for Robredo’s withdrawal instead of the frontrunner, it becomes clear that the press conference is a gendered issue. Especially when those that hold the microphones for the people to see are the same men that have upheld the patriarchal and heterosexual norms in Philippine politics. The idea that they could win, but only if Robredo steps down, portrays men as conquerors that can take the woman’s position. Such interpretation is not new, various literature have critiqued the concept of the woman as a being to be conquered, an idea upheld by the same norms that these male laggers have shown in Manila Peninsula. The stripping away of male dominance is seen most vividly in the election statistics of Robredo, with her male opponents either slipping down or staying down.
The Troublemakers
Leni Robredo, along with her pink wave of supporters, continue to cause trouble. Their identities, together with their mere existence on the streets and small talk with everyday Filipinos, threaten to dismantle the male state; a state which treats women the way men see women. In a baffling fashion, Robredo, along with her supporters, continue to bring the unpredictability of Philippine politics precisely by causing trouble to the once-tranquil and predictable expectations of gender. Even the influential figures of Robredo’s campaign are women; they are her own daughters. And while Robredo said no to abortion and did not give a direct answer for divorce, she is willing to lend an ear and listen to the people that she bids to represent. Most importantly, Robredo provides hope for the revival of equality among different identities in the Philippines, one that we used to enjoy before our colonization. To do so, she must first get through a tough but seemingly possible hurdle: winning the elections to prove that the presidency is not just a man’s job. Maybe by then, Robredo and her supporters prove themselves correct: that the best man for the job is a woman.
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