Pilipinas, ‘itinapon sa kangkungan’

The acclaimed director Mike de Leon has released a new video—and every frame of the five-minute-five-second mini-movie is a must-watch.

“Kangkungan” is an angry, urgent, partisan, polemical film with a specific call to political action, but it is also a true portrait of the national situation, grounded on fact. It does not seek refuge in academic language, or hide behind the traditions of art; while its assertions are backed by scholarly research and it is an effective example of the art of the video, it is focused on making a single, overwhelming point: President Duterte is dragging the country to the proverbial kangkungan, the swampy patch where water spinach grows.

Almost every assertion in the sustained polemic is immediately backed by supporting footage. For instance, after the narrator describes President Duterte as attacking freedom of religion, a video clip of the President’s infamous attack on the Christian God is immediately played. “Who is this stupid God?” Mr. Duterte is shown asking, his right index finger raised.

But by my count, the video makes at least five assertions that the President’s supporters may dispute, arguing perhaps that they are matters of opinion. They certainly are De Leon’s opinion, shared by many, but they are rooted in Philippine reality. (The script was written in English, likely by De Leon himself, with the narration translated into Filipino by the esteemed Doy del Mundo Jr. and voiced by Teroy Guzman. I will use the English subtitles.)

“Under the guise of a war on drugs, he unleashed a reign of terror in the country.”

Where is this reign of terror, if the President still enjoys great popularity? If his satisfaction and approval ratings are still very high, and the government’s campaign against illegal drugs still counts on majority support, can one really speak of a terrorized people? Yes, if the same surveys are studied for other results. Over the last two years, the surveys have also been telling us a different, bleaker narrative: some seven out of every 10 voting-age Filipinos say they fear that they or someone they know would be the next victim in the so-called drug war.

“He declared martial law in Mindanao, a prelude to a nationwide repeat of Marcos’ infamous regime.”

Where lies the proof that martial law in Mindanao is a mere prelude? From the President’s own words and actions: His continuing fascination with “constitutional dictatorship,” his continuing courtship (which he has admitted more than once) of the military leadership to start a junta.

“Because of this man, we are slowly but surely losing our sovereignty to the brazen moves of Asia’s newest superpower.”

That the Duterte administration is not more aggressively asserting Philippine rights in the South China Sea is majority public opinion, and has been for the last two years. That opinion is based on fact: the President instructing officials
to give China “a soft landing” after the Philippines won at the arbitral tribunal, the President refusing to raise the claims for fear of Chinese military reprisal, the President expressing his “love” for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“And he has committed the most heinous crime of all, against a nation that has forgotten its past, by supporting the return to power of the sociopathic Marcos family.”

Both critics and supporters may quibble over whether the rehabilitation of the Marcoses is the most heinous of all crimes, but De Leon is only right to describe that family as sociopathic. (In the Tagalog narration, “walang konsensiyang pamilya Marcos.”) The family maintains that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos did not steal, but continues to contest Philippine government claims to assets that by law are defined as ill-gotten. The children maintain they have nothing to apologize to the country for, but refuse to accept any responsibility by pretending to be younger than they were.

“This man is killing our country (Itinatapon ng taong ito ang ating Pilipinas sa kangkungan).”

This IS opinion, but it is born of the clear-sightedness of a prophet, the wisdom of a witness to history. In popular culture, the kangkungan is also where the bodies of summarily executed victims are often dumped. A new, perverted meaning of the word “salvage” had to be coined in the Marcos era to account for those executions. Now we find ourselves in the killing fields again.

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