We are pleased to share with you our June Occasional Paper, entitled “The 2019 Midterm Elections in the Philippines: From Patronage to Populist Mobilization” written by Dr. Julio C. Teehankee, a professor of Political Science and International Studies at the De La Salle University. The paper focuses on the how President Rodrigo Duterte has been able to eschew patronage-based political party in favor of populist mobilization, and project the 2022 presidential elections through the lens of the 2019 midterm elections results.

While the 2019 Midterm elections was generally seen as a referendum of the Duterte administration, it also tested and consolidated the political strength of Duterte as a populist strongman president. The rise of Duterte’s populism can be traced back to the failure of reformists from institutionalizing their “good governance” anti-corruption narrative, the inability to distribute the fruits of the economic growth to the poor majority and to give security to the growing middle class. The victory of Duterte signaled the comeback of the nationalist-populist narrative that was first articulated by movie actor and former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada in 1998.

Further details can be found in the full text of the article, which we hope you will find this useful and interesting.

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