By Joshua Corcuera
In social media, I often encountered comments that the Philippines needs more discipline than democracy — and that we’ve got too much of the latter. There are also people who claimed that poverty and criminality is rampant in our country because of democracy. While some even expressed that our nation must be ruled with a dictator’s iron-fist to resolve the fundamental problems we face.
Although discipline can be important to attain an orderly society, resorting to a dictatorial form of government isn’t a good way to solve our issues, and it can even worsen the problems we are dealing with.
Without democracy, important voices are silenced
If we were living in a Philippines ruled by a dictator, you’ll not be able to read this article, seriously. It has been a common characteristic among dictators to silence voices critical of them just like what the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos did when he declared martial law in 1972, as evidenced by the closure of media outlets under his regime. Even if government policies are unpopular, anti-poor, and anti-people, critics and dissidents can be dealt with a horrible fate by authoritarians. This is especially true in the forgotten corners of the world such as North Korea — which is currently ruled by dictator Kim Jong-Un. North Koreans cannot freely express their grievances to the government due to fears of being silenced, or arrested, or even killed. In Saudi Arabia, an authoritarian regime ruled by an absolute monarchy, Jamal Khashoggi — a popular columnist and critic of the Saudi crown prince — was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Since time immemorial, those who yield enormous power are capable of crushing dissent and silencing the voices of the marginalized sectors of society.
The last time a dictator ruled, things were terrible
Despite the enormous power yielded by dictators and authoritarians, countries ruled by such personalities still face serious issues and concerns; ranging from poverty to inequality, from corruption to human rights violations, and numerous others. Here in the Philippines, Marcos was clearly a dictator for several years as he ruled by decree without checks and balances. According to Emmanuel de Dios, an economist from the University of the Philippines, when Marcos entered the presidency in 1965, the country’s poverty rate was at 42% and increased to 59% in 1985. This means that during the final years of Marcos in power, 3 out of 5 Filipinos — a majority of the population — were poor. Moreover, his regime is controversial for thousands of extrajudicial killings, tortures, and incarceration according to Amnesty International. And according to Transparency International in its Global Corruption Report in 2004, Marcos is the second most corrupt leader in the world after Mohamed Suharto of Indonesia as he allegedly embezzled between US$5 billion and US$10 billion.
Where democracy is stronger, quality of life is better
As mentioned earlier, some people claimed that democracy is the cause of poverty. However, the Democracy Index of 2019 suggests otherwise since there is a correlation between higher living standards and stronger democracies. For example, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and New Zealand are the four strongest democracies in the world. And yet, they are also considered as one of the most peaceful and prosperous countries on the planet. Japan, South Korea, and Canada also attained high scores in the index and have strong democracies — even scoring higher than the United States. Meanwhile, North Korea, DR Congo, Central African Republic, and Syria gained the lowest score in the index and are clearly authoritarian regimes. At the same time, they are nations which face serious problems such as armed conflict, widespread poverty, and systematic corruption.
Of course, not all democracies are free of problems or worry-free, probably because those in power are incompetent or any other complex factor at play. But the important thing is that the masses are given the power to decide its fate and not a single person nor a single group. After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
