The Year of Breaking Up Badly
Starting with the Duterte political dynasty and its allies, it was a season of bad karma.
The Quadcomm (four committees of the House of Representatives acting jointly) concluded that former president Rodrigo Duterte, two sitting senators, and a number of current and former police officers should be charged with crimes against humanity for the bloody war on drugs from 2016 to 2022. It is now up to the Department of Justice to heed their recommendation.
ROdrigo Duterte sitting beside Leila De Lima during the Quad Comm Inquiry (Photo by Maria Tan/ABS-CBN News)
In mid-December, the QuadComm submitted its initial report after four months of hearings on the interconnected issues of illegal drugs, extrajudicial killings, violations of human rights, abuse of power, and criminal activities that took place within the premises of overseas gaming operations or POGOs. All of these, the body concluded, could be linked to the Dutertes as the center of a grand criminal operation.
QuadComm chair and Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers explained that their investigation “soon uncovered a web of interconnections—a Pandora’s box of crimes and abuses that tested the very foundations of our institutions…and brought to light a harrowing narrative of institutional impunity during the Duterte administration.”
For his part, Human, Rights committee chair and Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante said: “We are confident that we have gathered competent evidence to make the appropriate recommendations [against] systematic violation of human rights and blatant disregard of due process.”
Public order and safety committee chair and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez said that aside from recommending criminal charges, they wanted to highlight “the abuse and suffering of trafficking victims at the hands of these evil operators” of illegal POGOs.
Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Paduano, chair of the committee on public accounts, said they found “compelling evidence” that called for prompt legal action, especially against foreigners using fraud to obtain fake Philippine documents.
Ban on POGOs
Another positive development was the total ban on POGOs by the end of December announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his third State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) in July. While the POGOs were allowed to operate in the country to contribute to the country’s economic development, these became havens of illegal activities, such as financial scams, money laundering, and even torture, kidnapping, and murder.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. (Source: Rappler)
The campaign against illegal POGOs was spearheaded by the office of Sen. Risa Hontiveros and the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), in close coordination with the Philippine National Police. The agency raided two huge POGO complexes engaged in fraudulent activities in Bamban, Tarlac, and in Porac, Pampanga. In the case of the Bamban POGO, it turned out that the elected mayor of the municipality, one Alice Guo, who claimed to have been born in the Philippines, was actually a Chinese national whose real name was Guo Hua Ping. When authorities ordered her arrest, she fled to Indonesia where she was later arrested and sent back to the Philippines. She has been dismissed as mayor and is now detained for misrepresentation of her nationality, among other criminal charges.
Senator Risa Hontiveros (Source: Rappler)
UniTeam Breakup
In an ugly political spectacle, Vice President Sara Duterte‘s launched a foul-mouthed online rant saying she had already spoken to someone who would assassinate President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself was killed by political enemies.
Vice President Sara Duterte’s online rant hit social media
In an earlier online rant she threatened to exhume the remains of the late former president Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. from its burial place at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and throw them into the West Philippine Sea.
While her supporters claimed her statements were mere hyperbole, critics accused her of violating ethical norms expected of the second highest top official, indicating a serious flaw in her character and competence to handle the demands of her position.
Impeachment Complaints vs. Sara Duterte
Vice President Sara Duterte now faces three impeachment complaints filed before the House of Representatives. The first impeachment complaint by civil society organizations on December 2, the second by the Makabayan bloc a few days later, and the third by religious groups on December 19. With these, the stage is now set for the possible ouster of the second highest elected official, a first in the nation’s political history.
The impeachment complaints are in accord with Article 11 of the 1987 Constitution that says the President, Vice President, members of the Supreme Court, members of the constitutional commissions and the Ombudsman may be removed from office for culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, and betrayal of public trust.
The 50-page first impeachment complaint filed by religious leaders, sectoral representatives, and families of drug war victims, cites all the reasons for impeachment enumerated in the fundamental law, except for treason, and contains a total of 24 articles.
The second impeachment complaint drafted by the Makabayan bloc and other progressive groups focuses on a single issue—betrayal of public trust by the VP, specifically her alleged misuse of confidential funds.
The third impeachment complaint filed by religious groups, priests, and lawyers accuses the Vice President of betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption over alleged misuse of at least P612 million worth of confidential funds.
Sara Duterte has refused to explain publicly how she used the millions in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during her leadership, citing “national security” as the reason. She emphasized that she would only account for these funds to the Commission on Audit (COA) and argued that the House of Representatives has no authority to question her use of the discretionary funds.
‘Son of God’ Arrest
Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the self-appointed ‘Son of God” who headed a religious cult based in Davao City called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, was arrested after a two-week police siege of the cult’s headquarters, Quiboloy and several others are facing criminal charges including sex trafficking and child abuse before a Philippine court.
Pastor Apollo Quiboloy (Source: Philippine News Agency)
Quiboloy also faces charges in the United States where the Federal Bureau of Investigation wants him to account for various criminal activities by members of his cult.
ICC and Duterte
The impending issuance by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of a warrant of arrest for former President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity has been rumored since June. This had to do with his brutal war on illegal drugs from 2016 to 2019 that led to an official death toll of more than 6,200 as claimed by the Philippine National Police, but human rights in the Philippines and abroad insist had already reached between 25,000 to 30,000.
The year has come and gone yet the ICC has not issued such an arrest warrant, although news reports said the court’s investigators had already finished interviews of families of drug war victims. Duterte had repeatedly said that he was assuming full responsibility for drug war killings by police operatives. He said this again during his appearance in the Senate and in the House in the latter part of this year, thus giving hope to the families of victims of extrajudicial killings that Duterte could be held to account for crimes against humanity.
West Philippine Sea Tension
The Philippine Coast Guard Protecting the West Philippine Sea (Source: AP)
In July, President Marcos Jr. vowed to mount a "proportionate, deliberate and reasonable" response to the "unabated, illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous attacks" by China’s Coast Guard and the Chinese Maritime Militia in the West Philippine Sea.
“We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends, but we will not be cowed into silence, submission or subservience. Filipinos do not yield,” the President pointed out in no uncertain terms. This was his response to the incident in the West Philippine Sea where the China Coast Guard used water cannons against a Philippine vessel on a resupply mission to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, which is within the Philippine EEZ. The attack caused heavy damage to the resupply boat and injured four servicemen.
As part of the government’s moves against China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea, the Marcos administration is building a united front of allies, partners, and friends in the international community, particularly the United States, Australia, Japan, and the European Union. These international allies have offered to help the country in protecting Philippine sovereign rights and jurisdiction, while vowing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
Marcos Jr. has made it clear since he took office in mid-2022 that the Philippines will not give up one inch of its territory even as Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea has steadily increased since he assumed the presidency in 2022.
The Philippines and China created in 2017 a Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) to discuss issues and concerns related to the South China Sea. The first BCM was convened in 2017 and has already concluded its 8th meeting. But little, it would appear, has been achieved by the discussions and negotiations.
New Finance Secretary
In January, the President appointed former Senator Ralph Recto as his new Finance Secretary, citing Recto’s ability “to the help devise strategies that will tame inflation through a bastion of responses ranging from plugging supply gaps to injecting non-monetary measures so that prices will be stable.”
Secretary Ralph Recto
Recto was assigned to lead the government’s anti-smuggling drive and pursuit of tax cheats, starting with the habitual ones “who have raised tax evasion not just into an art but into a business.” Moreover, Recto should promote not just ease in paying taxes but also in efficiently and effectively spending those collections.”
GDP Growth
The good news, on paper at least, is that with robust capital formation and accelerated government spending, the Philippine economy expanded by 5.8 percent for the first three quarters of 2024 and remains among the fastest-growing economies in Asia. It outpaced Malaysia (5.2 percent), Indonesia (5.0 percent), China (4.8 percent), and Singapore (3.8 percent).
The country’s economic team was optimistic about meeting the growth target of 6 percent to 6.5 percent for 2024. Growth assumptions for 2025 to 2028 have been given a wider band of 6 percent to 8 percent, underpinned by transformative structural reforms and the resilience to navigate evolving domestic and global challenges.
The stage is now set for the possible ouster of the second highest elected official, a first in the nation’s political history.
Revenue Collection
Total revenue collection for 2024 was expected to increase to PHP4.42 trillion by the end of the year, surpassing the full-year target of PHP4.27 trillion. As a percentage of GDP, the emerging revenues would climb to 16.7 percent, the highest in the last 27 years or since 1997.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) improved their revenue administration efficiency by ensuring ease of paying taxes and accelerating their respective digitalization programs. For the first 10 months of the year, the DOF had already collected PHP 3.77 trillion in total revenues—a double-digit increase of 16.8 percent over the same period last year. As a result, the revenue effort for the first three quarters of the year improved to 17.5 percent of GDP, up from 16.4 percent in the same period last year.
Fiscal discipline and prudent debt management have earned the Marcos administration its first-ever credit rating upgrade of A minus from R&I and an upgrade of outlook to Positive from S&P in 2024. This means that the government and the private sector will continue to benefit from wider access to cheaper and more cost-effective borrowing.
Jobs and Inflation
The sustained strength of the country’s labor market was evident in 2024 as the year-to-date unemployment rate dropped to 4.0 percent—well below the full-year target range of 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent. With this, the total number of Filipinos employed rose to 48.6 million from January to October 2024.
The year-to-date inflation rate of 3.2 percent has stayed firmly within the DBCC’s assumption of 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent, reflecting the government’s interventions to ease supply pressures on key food items, especially rice. Rice inflation has continued its downward trend from 22.5 percent in June 2024 to 5.1 percent in November this year as a result of the implementation of Executive Order (EO) No. 62 in July 2024, which lowered import tariffs on rice.
Rice Prices
When he ran for president in 2022, Bongbong Marcos promised to bring down rice prices to as low as PHP20 per kilo to make them affordable to the masses. He had even assumed the concurrent position of Agriculture Secretary for one-and-a-half years because the Chief Executive he said, could issue orders directly to those responsible for agricultural development instead of going through the bureaucracy.
But the PHP20 per kilo of rice campaign promise remains unfulfilled. It is unattainable simply because the high cost of production of the staple makes it impossible to bring its price down; the cheapest rice in the market now stands at PHP40 per kilo. This, plus the series of typhoons that hit the country in the past year, has made the Philippines the biggest rice importing country in the world.
Climate Change Impact
Human-induced climate change fueled a rare string of back-to-back typhoons that battered the Philippines this year and boosted the chances of powerful storms making landfall. Five typhoons and a tropical storm hit during a 23-day period across October and November, killing more than 170 people and causing at least $235 million in damage, according to local authorities.
Rescuers during Typhoon Carina in the Philippines (Source: Tatler Asia/Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Philippines and its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people. However, multiple major weather events over such a short period are rare. The Asian Development Bank recently estimated that $102 billion to $431 billion per year needs to be invested in Asia-Pacific countries to help them cope with climate change.
Storm Over Proposed 2025 Budget
President Marcos Jr. and his Cabinet reviewed the national budget for 2025 to ensure that it conforms to the 1987 Constitution. This came after questions were raised over the budget cuts for the Department of Education (DepEd), which several lawmakers deemed unconstitutional. The bicameral conference committee had reduced DepEd’s budget to PHP737 billion from the PHP748.6 billion funding approved by the House of Representatives. Aside from DepEd, other agencies also suffered budget cuts, including PHP86 billion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and PHP74.5 billion from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.
Another issue is the persistence of pork barrel in the 2025 budget, drawing concern that critical social programs would be compromised to fund infrastructure projects, such as the PHP288 billion added to the Department of Public Works and Highways after the bicameral conference committee’s adjustments. The DPWH’s original allocation was PHP825 billion but it ballooned to a record PHP1.1 trillion
To cover the increase, allocations were taken from social programs, including PHP10 billion from the Department of Education, PHP50 billion from the Pantawid Pampamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and PHP30 billion from the Commission on Higher Education.
Aside from DepEd, other agencies also suffered budget cuts: PHP86 billion from the Department of Social Welfare and Development; PHP74.5 billion from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation; PHP50 billion from the Pantawid Pampamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and PHP30 billion from the Commission on Higher Education.
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or Philhealth requested a budget of PHP 150.92 billion to cover the premiums of 25.28 million indirect contributors. But the final version of the national budget submitted to the President for approval did not contain this request, because PhilHealth already has a PHP600 billion reserve fund. Critics, however, contend that stopping the government’s subsidy is unconstitutional.
Hopes for 2025?
In May this year, Filipinos will troop to voting centers to elect eight senators of the Republic and local officials from provincial governors to city and town mayors, among others. Perhaps the midterm elections will pave the way for leaders who will uphold good governance anchored on transparency and accountability. Unfortunately, the competing senatorial slates are still dominated by dynastic political families and elites, mirroring similar challenges facing to aspiring government reformers on the local levels.
President Marcos Jr. will start the second half of his six-year term that ends in 2028. The nation expects him to uphold due process and the rule of law, protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and make a real difference in the lives of Filipinos, particularly those who stand in the margins of society
Ernesto M. Hilario studied Political Science at the University of the Philippines and has worked for various government agencies, NGOs and mainstream media since 1978. He writes a regular column for the Manila Standard broadsheet and also works as a freelance writer-editor.
More articles from Ernesto M. Hilario
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