ne could almost hear jaws drop around the globe when US President Joe Biden invited the Philippines to his exclusive summit of democratic countries. Our country's president, Rodrigo Duterte never quite stood out as a beacon of democracy during his five-plus years in office. Even during his decades as mayor of far-flung Davao City, Duterte displayed an autocratic flair more than he did a democratic one.

Duterte's detractors even question whether he truly even understands what democracy is and how it works. One of his first acts as president was to cozy up to totalitarian leaders Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia. He wanted to be part of their "new world order" should they decide to form one. As anti-Duterte activists note, in true autocratic form, Duterte clamped down on the press, locked up enemies, and according to the International Criminal Court, may have committed crimes against humanity in undertaking his, ill-conceived, poorly-implemented, and woefully-ineffective war on drugs.

What Duterte brings to the table for this democracy summit, whether he likes to or not, is concrete evidence that democratic institutions may be more robust than people think. Step back and think about it. The Philippines started down the democratic path just 86 years ago in 1935 with the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth. Filipinos created a constitution and peacefully elected their leaders.

Those 86 years appear to have been enough to keep the flame of freedom and democracy alive in the hearts of most Filipinos. They endured decades of tyrannical rule under Ferdinand Marcos' with their rights and freedoms stripped away. And still, in the end, freedom prevailed.

Unfortunately, today, authoritarian leaders like Xi, Putin, Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar, to name a few, are on the rise. Democracies everywhere are being buffeted by gale-force winds of change and many are seeing their democratic institutions start to crack or crumble against this onslaught.

Today's despots use 21st-century technology to achieve what was once done by brutal force. They use social networks and troll farms to deceive the public, facial recognition technology to keep track of entire populations, and artificial intelligence and deep learning to stay a step ahead of any grassroots dissent.

Yet despite all that, Duterte, who came into office determined to do things his way, determined to turn orthodoxy on its head and force the country to see things from his point of view. Despite his legions of trolls—as his opponents allege—whose job it is to mold public sentiment to his liking, and despite diehard supporters in Congress and the judicial branch, Duterte now appears resigned to the fact that his term as president is finally coming to an end, with relatively few accomplishments.

But this, Duterte can point out, is a victory for democracy. Because, in a democracy, the power of the leader is always constrained. It is kept in check lest an over-zealous ruler oversteps his or her bounds.

Duterte should tell the audience that he is living proof that the pillars of democracy in the Philippines—a young republic with barely eight decades of experience with democratic institutions—still stand. So that now, despite his rubbing elbows with leaders like Xi and Putin, despite his hoards of fanatical followers, including his alleged army of social media trolls, he is stepping down, as required by the Constitution. And this should be phenomenal news for democracies everywhere. That message would make Duterte the undisputed star of the summit.

Published 12/10/2021