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Some of you might have heard about the arrest of former President Duterte by the ICC for crimes against humanity. But honestly, I think that’s not the only story here. It feels like the government is trying to distract us from the real situation in the country by going after their former ally.

As a citizen, I can’t help but notice, infrastructure projects? Super few, compared to the previous administration. Instead, they’re focusing on giving out financial aid. Don’t get me wrong, helping people is good, but there’s no return on that money. It’s not an investment that grows; it’s just money out.

And guess what? Our national debt keeps climbing. As of January 2025, the Philippines' debt hit a record high of ₱16.31 trillion (around $279 billion!).

Now, why am I comparing this to Venezuela? Well, if you look at Hugo Chávez’s time in power, it’s a very similar story. He focused on social programs, but the country’s income didn’t really improve. Politicians do this to stay popular, give money, make people happy, and worry about the problems later.

It feels the same in the Philippines right now. A huge chunk of the budget goes to aid that everyone loves. But with corruption everywhere (one politician even admitted that only 40% of the budget actually goes to the projects!), it’s not surprising that debt will keep piling up.

As a citizen, I’m really worried. If corruption and overspending continue, we might end up like Venezuela facing hyperinflation and serious economic collapse.

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https://mb.com.ph/2025/2/27/philippines-debt-hits-record-high-16-31-trillion-in-january-2025

Venezuela's problem is that it was primarily dependent on its oil exports. Chavez failed to establish a diversified, multi-resource economy and believed he could make Venezuela like the Gulf states. He found the socialist model appropriate for his ideas, which cost nothing more than oil extraction. This policy made the economy extremely fragile and hypersensitive to oil prices. As soon as prices fell, the economy collapsed, and Venezuela entered a crisis from which it has not been able to recover to this day.
The Philippines is no better than Venezuela, but each country has its own circumstances that create the factors for crisis. The outcome may be the same, but not under the same conditions.

They could have different sources of income.. for example, the Philippines, where one of the major sources is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). But if a country is sanctioned by a powerful nation like the US, that income could easily disappear.

However, as the OP mentioned, the real problem lies in corruption. I believe corruption is already rampant in many countries, and no matter how good a country’s economic policies are, corruption becomes a huge barrier that prevents those policies from being effectively implemented. So that should be address first, but the question is, who can eradicate that corruption?

Why does it have to be compared to some random South American country, instead of having it's own unique set of problems and circumstances? Venezuela has been in trouble for a long time and while both countries might be struggling, they don't necessarily have the same root causes. Venezuela is actually rich in oil reserves, but it has been squandered by a few elites at the top who are trying to control all the wealth for themselves, but getting sidelined by most of the world because of that. The Philippines does not have access to such large reserves of liquid gold and has generally relied on overseas workers sending money back home to sustain many families. You'll find that the national debt of many countries is climbing, so that is not necessarily just their problem.

I saw the arrest of Duterte in the media. I don't really know the exact reason. Duterte was arrested for anti-human activities. From what I heard, he declared zero tolerance against drugs. And many drug lords may have been killed in the operation. However, Duterte's opponents have alleged that many innocent people have also been killed in the anti-drug operation.

As far as I know, the Philippines is not a poor country. However, from what you say, it seems that the Philippines' debt is increasing day by day. And this is not unusual. However, gradually reducing the debt burden is good for the country. However, if what you say is true that corruption is one of the reasons why the Philippines' debt is increasing day by day, then this is definitely a matter of concern. If it continues like this, inflation will happen very quickly. The value of the Philippine currency will continue to decrease.

The debt in the country is piling up quite fast. Considering that there's no pandemic, no active separatist movements or any serious uprising, no grave natural disasters, and so on, I wonder why it is so.

Given the fast rising debt, it's interesting there seems to be not much happening around apart from direct dole-outs, which is obviously done with political motives.

What's worse right now is that in addition to rampant corruption, it seems the government isn't working at all. You can't feel somebody is managing the country. Even the prices of what's otherwise abundant agricultural products are soaring. Even ginger and tomatoes have become luxuries.

I guess this is the necessary result when a county choose to elect a leader who's the only son of the most corrupt couple in the country's history. It doesn't help that he's also a dropout and has known nothing but parties and private concerts.

It's global issue and all nations have sharp increases of national debts since Covid-19 pandemic. It's part of the pandemic consequences and mass money prints from governments and central banks.

About Venezuela, I think there are bigger contributors for their national crisis from the regime of dictator Hugo Chávez and his long lasting corruption. What's happening in your nation, in my opinion, is better than in Venezuela.

I am unsure but with information I got from social media, there is no regime and dictactor in Philippines like in Venezuela.

i am not really surprised i think the corruption is pretty obvious right now it is almost being done right in front of our faces confidential funds with no transparency is a pretty suspicious sign that there definitely is some corruption going on
we should be worried really there is nothing much we can do but vote for the right politicians i hope it does not end up that way because we can try and improve our financial status on our own but the country's economic state will remain the same

But the pandemic ended years ago, so the Philippines shouldn’t still be affected by it. In fact, compared to the time when the pandemic was ongoing, the increase in the national debt is even larger now.

There is no dictatorship in the Philippines, but the level of corruption is extremely high.
From the highest ranks all the way down to the lowest. It’s as if corruption has already become an ingrained part of the system.

We can choose the right leader, but if the majority of voters elect the wrong ones, we’ll still end up losing the battle. We all know that most of the voting population lives in poverty, so many might just turn a blind eye especially if they’re benefiting from the politicians' programs.

In fact, in our city, vote-buying is very rampant. I just don’t understand why the government can’t seem to stop it, even when they have good intelligence. Or maybe… they choose to ignore it, because cracking down on it might expose people in power,  people they don’t want to cross. It feels like a cycle that keeps repeating, where those in authority either benefit from the system or are too afraid to challenge it.

You hit that very well Sanitough my friend. These things that are in the news and current affairs, they're done to cover up the real issues of our country. And they thought that they can keep on hiding in the curtains of the corruption they've done with this scene they've made with Digong and the impeachment of VP Sara. The GAA and other infra projects, the continuous aid of money to people as sort of vote buying, they're all wanna hide those real issues. The gold reserve of the central bank that has been sold and we're hitting the Guinness for the most gold sold last year, it's no longer the talks. I guess in diversion, they've become successful but I don't think we'll be the next Venezuela, we'll possibly the next Sri Lanka.

I'm not very familiar with the Philippine Economy, in fact, I know absolutely NOTHING about it, but with Venezuela it was a very good example of putting all their eggs in one basket - their over-reliance in Oil exports, there's also their BAD macro-economic policies which got them sanctioned by the U.S.A, and BAD political management.

During the price crash of Crude Oil and their Economic Crisis during 2014, what did Venezuela do? They turned on their money-printer which caused Hyperinflation.

  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

OP, wait for your country to turn on the money-printer too. 8)

What Op said is general about third world countries and that is why they are called so. They generally have the characteristics of distracting the people from the reality on ground by giving at food as palliative, money as palliative by targeting those that they classify as poor yet such money don't get to the people it is meant for, it ends up in the pocket of the politicians assigned to disburse it. Corruption is always at the increase with no hope of stopping, the next government that enters appears worst.

It is unfortunate that you are sharing this here and that is because you are pained but you are not the only one bearing such pain.

Solution is for the people to unite and have electoral laws that will ensure transparency so that people will be give tools to fish and not to hand them fish. A government that is working doesn't share money as palliative when it is not that they are under natural disaster or catastrophe, a government that is working will create environment for jobs, grow small businesses so that standard of living will improve.

i think that the philippines may not suffer the same fate as venezuela, as the philippine economy is better, it does not rely on just one type of export, and has good support from sectors in services, manufacturing, agriculture, and remittances from overseas. even though there is inflation and a heated political situation due to duterte's arrest, it has not caused the philippines to collapse like venezuela.

if i want to compare it, the condition of the philippines is like indonesia. right now the situation in my country is not as good. politics are a bit chaotic, there is a lot of corruption, and the government issues public policies that are completely useless to the people. many people here are just struggling to survive while the political elites are fighting for power.

Last December, the World Bank projected that the Philippine economy would remain strong amid rising global geopolitical tensions, even growing at an average rate of 6% during the period (2024-2026), leading to a reduction in poverty. The country's growth is expected to reach 6.1% in 2025 and 6.0% in 2026 if it continues to pursue anti-inflation policies.

I find these indicators positive and leave no room for comparison with a bad example like El Salvador. The most distinctive feature of the Philippine economy is its vulnerability to climate change, as the Philippines is geographically located in a region prone to typhoons, floods, and other natural disasters, making it difficult to maintain sustainable development.

The problem with Venezuela was that it was located near US and it had a lot of oil. So US started infiltrating and mostly destroying the country from within while attacking it from outside (sanctions aka economic terrorism).

Now I haven't really followed the situation with Philippines to compare it with Venezuela but the situation is not like Venezuela so far. However Philippines has a flaw! in this particular time in history. It is located near China (specifically close to South China Sea) and US regime that is waging a war against China is using countries nearby as their base of operation (eg. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Myanmar, etc.) and when we look at each of these countries they all have destabilized political structure (they arrested South Korean president, assassinator Japanese PM, carried out a coup in Myanmar, etc.) which helps US regime's infiltration...

So the situation looks similar although I can't say for sure since I haven't followed Philippines news as I said... it is a theory worth investigating though... so you tell me whether it rings any bells or not.

I did a little DYOR, and OP posted that a political rival be the current president was sent to the Netherlands to face trial over his "crimes against humanity". 👀

Was he a sort of dictator that killed a large amount of innocent people like Adolf Hitler, or those South African Warlords?

But sending him out of your country could ease domestic political tensions.


But how is the corruption in your country? I believe that your government is one of the most corrupt around the globe? Because typhoon is a problem in Japan too. 8)


What would be the best solution?

That's the million dollar question.

I can't say what Philippines should do without doing an extensive investigation first but generally speaking during this particular time in history where the New World Order is being established and that means lots of conflicts of different forms in the world, the countries have to be very careful which side they lean toward or go as far as joining. Making the wrong mistake would destroy their countries.

Look at Cuba for example, it is like an island similar to Philippines that is close to US mainland. They joined USSR side at the time US and USSR were at war. 50 years after that the US regime declassified stuff and with abhorrent insolence confessed that during that time they were carrying out terrorist attacks against civilians and they used some fancy name for it naming it Operation Mongoose (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mongoose).

Note that I'm not saying one side is better than the other (they are all bad!) or which side to join. But it is important to not allow your country to become the battlefield for others. Ukraine is a good example of a mistake they made by allowing US/NATO in and got their country destroyed because of it.

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Another important thing which I forgot to mention in my previous comment is that such issues (economic or otherwise) is not specific to one country; and we can't just attribute everything to corruption like in Philippines. These issues are happening everywhere these days. And they will continue to get worse for everyone until the New World Order is completely established.

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P.S. Wasn't Duterte leaning toward China more than US? And isn't Marcos completely falling into the arms of US and going completely against China?
I think that explains the reason for the arrest. Otherwise you can find corruption in the Marcos family as well. Not to mention that ICC has other arrest warrants that are more serious than accusations on Duterte for his international War on Drug campaign. Like the one ICC issued for genocide for the head of Zionist terrorist organization Netanyahu and nobody is arresting him despite his travels to places like New York! But suddenly Interpol decides to enforce an arrest warrant for someone who favors China over US :P

China is so far silent despite the aggression shown by US in it's neighbourhood. One common perception is that China no doubt has huge army that is well equipped too but they lack combat experience. Moreover we haven't seen China going after countries globally in the name of bringing democracy, eliminating terrorism etc. China main concern for last few years is Taiwan and from Ukraine conflict Taiwan must learn that it's best to solve the conflict with China amicably without relying what external powers are saying to them.   

Always better to be in safer side when we applies both the negative and positive impacts in cases like this,  what you said might be right because the governments has psychologically read the mind of the people in a struggling economy that what the masses cares about mostly is their needs of "now" and "then" can always come later.
So at that juncture they governments has created a social event of earning applause like they have done the best for the people because the people can be focused on while the government are busy doing their shits that has not positive long agendas for the masses.
However, I am still in support of the Duterte's arrest so to curtail his disasterous inhuman acts in the future.

I am also worried about the financial mismanaged of the government of my country. But our own is more complicated because a large chunk of these funds goes to private pockets. The debt of of the country will be paid by generations.

Each time people from developing nations complain that one of the major reasons for the conflicts and underdevelopment is external influence, many people tend to dispute it. If the supporters of Duterte starts protest, it might lead to the ditabilization of the country. I just hope the Philippines will remain peaceful.

The International Criminal Court was established to threaten leaders from developing nations to do the bidding of the West. If that court was fair and just George Bush and Tony Blair should have been in jail. But because the Interpol is controlled by a few nations, they prefer to go after the opposers of the organization's sponsors.

That is right. Add this to the support Chavez had from the military forces of Venezuela, what allowed him to implement a long lasting dictatorship, maintaining his "lineage" until nowadays, through Maduro.

Is the context in Philippines the same regards that aspect? Does the current ruler have support from the military? If he doesn't have, it's not likely Philippines is going to be the next Venezuela.

Take Brazil as an example. Lula and Dilma, who belong to the same group of Chavez, ruled the country for almost a decade and half continuously. However, when popular pressure increased against the government, they could do little, as they didn't have support from military, losing the rulership as consequence (even though Lula recovered the presidency in 2022).

If it was in Venezuela, popular pressure would have been immediately suffocated through physical force and institutional persecution.

You have to ask yourself to which of the examples above Philippines reaches closest to.

It could possibly lead to consumption level outpacing production by a lot.  It's however possible to deal with the consequences of paying people free money with the use of machines or robots, so that they replace the humans in production while the humans are paid to work less and consume what the machines are producing. Another possible way to deal with hyperinflation while still paying citizens free money to do nothing is with the use of cheap imported labors, and making lots of money from natural resources that adequately pay for the free money.
It's however important to note that paying people to do nothing will diminish the most important purpose of humans existence on Earth, which is to be fruitful or productive with their own hands/bodies. .And humans will likely lose their natural ability to work if they stop using the ability for a long time.

It’s not exactly that they’re not doing anything, because these social programs are actually providing financial aid to those earning below minimum wage , and especially to those who don’t have a job. However, the downside is that it makes people lazy.

For example, in rural areas, instead of planting crops or working, some people stop making an effort because they rely on the government, knowing they’ll receive financial assistance every month or every couple of months. In their minds, they don’t need to work hard anymore since help will keep coming anyway.

There was a report that there are OFW or overseas Filipino workers organizations that will not remit their salary or send their salary to the Philippines
Palace urges OFWs to calm down amid planned ‘zero remittance week’ protest (https://manilastandard.net/news/314572324/palace-urges-ofws-to-calm-down-amid-planned-zero-remittance-week-protest.html)
The OFW remittances are one of the key factors that contribute to the economy of the Philippines, so many OFW benefited from the Duterte administration. If we all remember, Duterte is the one that stopped the laglag bala or the bullet scam on the airport; he made the OFW special when they are going home, something that is missing on the Marcos admonistration.
This really looks ugly for the Marcos administration.

I agree with you that the world is in chaotic time and national orders can be changed in coming years. Cuba made bad decisions 50 years ago or longer than that but it's not only their bad decision to join USSR but also a terrible decision to turn their country to communism and a regime for Castro family. Their nation has like double bad decisions: communism is not good for democracy, human rights and wealth of citizens. It only creates perfect political environment for dictators, poverty and nearly no way to get out of it.

Cuba has effects from the USA sanctions but without it, they will still have many big problems because of their bad politics and Castro regime.

And that what really sucks with these kind of program on which it would really be that making people do really that become lazy just because they've known that theres something that they can get in the end of the month. Yes, we do understand that this will really be that an aide for those who are really that truly needs but there should really be some checking at the moment that these funds being received and since this do pertains about livelihood support then they should really be that trying out to check whether these people are really that applying these funds. Somehow these kind of things could be exploited because people could just easily say that their business had bankrupt but truly they do have spend up those funds into something else. This would really be that actually depends into governments plans and actions.

There's should really be that a strict implementation about into those people who would really be able to truly get these aids and it should be minimized into the amount being involved because at the time that it will really be just that too much then people will really be just that simply sit down and wait for the end of the month then here it comes their free money and waiting up again into the next one. How good their life could be with this program?

It won't be long also there could be a Philippine Missile Crisis because as far as I know US had once installed a missile facing China which China was furious about it. If was in the news that China also deployed their counter precautions.

In the case of President Duterte, he been the enemy of the Democrat party in the Philippines since he was a Mayor of his town. All the media turned against Duterte being the bad guy. But still he being the populist beat the Presidential candidate of the Democrat party. This man is the Nayeb Bukele in Asia who wipe out gang members in the his country. Duterte wipe out the drug men in the Philippines.

You can only say, this is the payback of Democrat and this will not end until the Dutertes can't step into the Whitehouse again.

The Chinese may be mostly silent but things are getting destabilized more and more every day in East Asia like the rest of the world and there have been "weird" clashes taking place for some time now. To see some search the usage of "water guns/cannons" by Chinese Navy against others like Philippines ships! There was another one with India where the armies of these 2 nuclear armed states were fighting each other with sticks and stones!

External influence is a real problem and I don't see any reason why anybody could dispute that. But it is not the only reason.

For example we have the same problem here. As the most sanctioned country for the longest time (~50 years) sometimes people and specially politicians like to blame everything on that external influence, specially our economic problems. But in many cases it is the government's fault. It can be simply for making honest mistakes, or it can be incompetence or even corruption that has caused that issue. But at the same time in many other cases the issues we face is indeed due to that external influence.

The only correct way forward to solve the issues is to first distinguish between these two which is not an easy task. If an issue is caused by corruption and we blame it on external influence or if an issue is caused by external influence and we blame it on corruption we will never be able to solve our issues.

Exactly.

If you see the cause of the destruction of Venezuela, basically occurs because of the factors or encouragement of local economic policies, when talking about rich in Venezuela's natural resources, it is almost the same as what is happening to the Philippines today.

Some of the problems that occur in Venezuela that make the country is corruption which is a legacy and rampant in Philippine research also has governance which is almost the same and bad that causes poverty as well as government mechanisms and also violations of human rights.

I consider the Philippines that if it does not improve economic governance on the effects of corruption that is happening at this time, it is likely that we will see the Philippine state like Venezuela.

Of course, news about the arrest of former Philippine President Duterte by the International Criminal Court fills the news sites, but unfortunately, I'm not fully informed about the details.

As for what your government is doing now, it's similar to what the government is doing here in my country. A new government has come to power after the corrupt former president fled, but what they're doing so far doesn't bode well for the country's future.

They always blame the former president for the mistakes, and what they're doing doesn't serve the economy; it's actually worsening the situation. The economy continues to deteriorate, the local currency loses value, and there is no real plan to extricate the country from its deep predicament.

Philippines is like other nations, are all affected by the pandemic, was affected during the pandemic years ago, and are still affected now. There is no single country on Earth that is not affected by the pandemic that triggers many bad governmental and national managements, make it faster and showing more consequences more quickly and at bigger scales.

Corruption in national governance is thing under the iceberg but its effects on a nation are very big and long lasting. I don't know about corruption status in Philippines but by having high national debt and high inflation, I know there are surely big problems in Philippines.

Data shows Philippines national debt almost doubles since pandemic.
https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/philippines/national-government-debt

The problem with these politicians is that they do not understand what investment is and how it should bring profit. They are just managers who have only one thing on their mind - to stay in power as long as possible. They are usurpers who have little to do with social policy. They only create the appearance of caring about well-being with their handouts and nothing more. The majority of the country's budget is spent on ensuring that the top brass lives in luxury and in complete abundance. This can be immediately seen if you pay attention to their lifestyle and how much money is allocated to provide for them. Everything is quite primitive and easy to understand.

I don't really pay attention to the latest news about politics in the Philippines, but if our country doesn't learn from the Philippines, our country will continue to be under pressure from piling debt, prioritizing social programs does look very good but in the long term it is completely useless, infrastructure development is something that a country really needs, the goal is so that future generations can enjoy it but social programs are just like running in place, citizens will never be full and satisfied, they will be surprised if one day the government stops the aid.

hopefully the Philippines will not be like what Venezuela experienced but from what I see, the case of Venezuela and the Philippines is very different.

Come to think that they are even having that big salaries to those who are really that having the highest position on the government on which basically these are the money from people or came from taxes or national budget. Actually there's no issue with this as long they are really that doing their job but if we are seeing the opposite thing then it is really just that being too sad on whats happening if ever they wouldnt be doing something that for the good of the country and into its citizens.

There are indeed countries on which their officials are corrupt and there's nothing we can do if this would really be the way of its governance. Philippines could be the next Venezuela? I dont think so on which we do still see that PH is still doing fine when it comes to economic condition and other aspects on which we can say that they are really just that doing fine. There are really some political issues on which are currently being faced down.

But we could. Singapore was in the same trajectory decades ago before they eliminated corruption, then opened up their region for international banking. International Banks/Companies won't commit and bring large investments if a country's government is VERY corrupt.

They can't blame anyone but their own government.


Do you actually believe that it won't be the same under your "New World Order"?

There are many successful examples, even when the circumstances were much worse. South Korea, Japan, and Germany are great examples because they succeeded in achieving a sustainable economic renaissance from the ruins of countries devastated by war and whose economies had almost completely collapsed. While countries that have enjoyed independence and sovereignty for decades have failed to establish a framework that eliminates corruption and limits foreign interference.

The Philippines is one country that is very diverse; we are separated by seas, culture, language, and religion. There was a campaign to change the setup to a federal country because the country is too centralized, but unfortunately it failed to generate support. There is a culture of corruption, and even Duterte cannot curb the corruption entirely, and of course, the political dispute is taking its toll on the community.
I don't usually follow current events, but with what's happening now, every citizen of the country is following the next chapters of these political dramas.

This is what happens in our country but during the time of former president Duterte, he has not blamed the former president for what's lacking on his term and administration. And with our current administration, it's always the presscons of his secretaries telling the blame to former president Duterte of what we're facing right now. They're too focused and spending a lot of money, time and resources to this backlashing and politics instead of serving the people. People hate the current government right now and they'll sure have their pay time when their term ends and that's what the current president is trying to do. To extend his power so that there will be no Duterte to come as they're scared for their fate.

That's the very definition of dirty politics, when you voted a son of a former dictator, then this is what the country will get. Everything is a messed now, and if I'm not mistaken, his cousin is the head of the congress and he too has been accused of corruption and plundering billions of pesos from government agencies to give it to his political affiliations to remain loyal to him.

So it's very sad to see how the Philippines will become the next Venezuela. But hopefully it's not, they just need to elect a good President like what Duterte did in his terms although now he is being prosecuted by ICCI and the Philippine government willing to give their sovereignty to ICCI and put in the stand their former President.

Venezuela is cursed with riches and it might be that set the situation for what happened to them.  Fortune set by that commodity wealth back and forth perhaps ruined the backbone of the country, oil pricing can fall below the cost of its extraction which means its a disaster to rely on for income absolutely.
    Now their military hold the country to ransom, I dont think Philippines is as blessed or cursed so might be more resilient in recovery also.

Well, we have to analyze them on a case by case basis. I can't say something that fits every country.

That's the nature of World Order changing, filled with chaos and instability. After the establishment of the Order, the chaos will subside.

These 3 examples have had improvements for sure but I wouldn't use any of them as "successful examples".

Japan and Germany are two defeated and occupied countries that are paying US regime to occupy their countries and to a great extent dictate everything they do and are allowed to do. For example the US regime dictated Japan to increase the exchange rate of their fiat to destroy their own economy and help the US economy survive in the Plaza Accord and they obeyed blindly and faced the consequences economically. They assassinated their former PM Abe who was talking about independence and stuff like that and the Japanese didn't even complain. Also today Japan is the biggest bag-holder of US debt!
In Germany the US regime has literally caused the deindustrialization and shut down their juicy Nord Stream lifeline and they couldn't do anything about it. Today Germany has the highest number of homeless in entire Europe as the industries keep shutting down or "become Chinese" ;).
Neither of them are allowed to have a decent military to defend themselves either. They all have to pay US regime to establish bases there which they use to carry out operations against others and if any conflict breaks out it will be these countries who will pay.

Last but not least South Korea where apart from one or two presidents, the rest of them have either been arrested for severe corruption and other crimes, killed, removed with a coup, or ran away one way or another.

P.S. What's going on in Luzon islands in Philippines? ;)

Why do you think you can't do anything about corrupt officials and politicians? This is a mistaken opinion. Of course, if you sit on your butt and do nothing, the result will be corresponding. Even in my country with a totalitarian regime, where it is dangerous to say anything about the government and there are examples of how civil servants who steal budget money are exposed.

Therefore, as they say, not everything is so clear-cut. People need to unite against such a misfortune and disaster. It is much safer than doing everything alone. Do you know what paralyzes people? Naturally, it is fear. A strong feeling that makes us not notice obvious things. Hide in our cocoon and pass by the problem.

Basing up on what i have read is that why people do make a vote on the son of that former dictator president was just because its been that introduced or being that recommend by Duterte on which if people do love the governance on what Duterte had done then it will really be that automatically understandable that peoples vote would be considered on this one plus having that platforms on promising out that good to be that decrease in price then you cant be able to blame on not for the people to vote on him. Now, we've seen that on the steps and things that he had made into the country Philippines on which it is really that a total chaos and some obvious corruption is really that currently happening.  Pretty sure that on the next voting or election then its impossible for Marcos to win up the Presidency no matter what propaganda and other promises that he made.

In regarding about economic status, on which tons of people or the citizens telling that the situation gotten even more worst. There were no developments and mostly the focus is on aides and other correlated aspects on which it causes up to spend up billions of budget for that. I dont have that idea about becoming the next venezuela but if these things will really be that continuing then it might be heading there.
Somehow i do agree into those points above that it is still pretty standing well in compared to Venezuela itself. This is why it will be that unlikely that it will really be going into this situation.
For its citizens then they are already aware on who would really be the ones they would really be voting into the next election.

Depends on the nation and how it moves. You do realize that robotics, AI and industrialization reached to a point where we are needing less and less people right? I mean if everyone keeps losing their jobs to hardware and software, there will be one day where business owners will just use these and not use humans.

In this case, how are we suppose to find a job? We are going to end up with bunch of issues and we can't really make any income since we won't have salaries. In this type of world, UBI isn't bad, universal basic income, research it, a futuristic world has all the people who want to work, end up working, and all the ones who do not work, gets their simple needs covered, it's just a must for the future if we go this fast with innovations.

I don't know many details about the situation in the Philippines, but it's clear that there is widespread administrative and political corruption. I'm not surprised by what's happening there, as we have many similar situations here in my country.

When administrative corruption spreads and the president begins appointing his relatives to important and sensitive positions in the government, this is certainly the natural end of the country's destiny. This will drag the country into further corruption and collapse, and reforms or temporary solutions will be of no use.

They're a tandem of what they've been doing to our country right now. The budget for this year, there were so much slashed for the infrastructure projects because all they want to put is to give people money, an aid that's useless and will be gone just after a day. They think that it's enough to make people like them by giving that as it becomes a legal vote buying for them. But they are starting to see that the people hates them.

I don't want to see it happen, no offense to our brothers and sisters from Venezuela. But if our government remains the same for the next remaining years of our president's term, it's gonna be sad for most of us because of high inflation rate that will happen to us. No foreign investors will be willing to invest because of high cost of everything here.

Marcos has a lot of loopholes in his regime; he does not have legacies compared to his predecessor, Duterte; his administration is so busy attacking Duterte he forgot he needs to address pressing problems of the people; he only won the election because of the help of the Dutertes.
He only has three years left, and he is so busy destroying the Dutertes so he can pick people in the next election, and there's a big probability that his cousin is gearing to be the next administration candidate to continue the Marcos reign of bad governance. I don't think this puppet, his cousin, will win.

Isn't it he is also being accused of being a drug addict himself? Why they try to bring down ex-President Duterte, I think the Filipino people knows what his administration is doing. But they should also be concern of what they are going because come next election, I do not think that they are going to win it unless there will be a massive failure of election again just like in the time of his father.

Rodrigo's daughter and the current VP of the Philippines, Sarah might run for the Presidency and for sure there are still a lot of supporters for her and his political party. That's what I'm afraid though, as it could really bring chaos in the Philippines if the current administration with their political machinery, will used everything in their power to keep them in the government.

There could be another People's Power in the Philippines if the population will go against the Marcoses and their cronies.

Once you are in power, there is so much you can do to stay in power. The most difficult part of his career was becoming president now he has access to everything to make sure he gets to keep his position.

I am concerned this thread is becoming more of a political discussion. I guess it can be inevitable as the government is more focused in fighting each other instead of trying to build the country's economy. I think that the filipino people are also falling for some propaganda. Political wars are distracting people from the fact that a lot of people are getting hungry and are unemployed. Many are not completing education. Many more children are being born. The country has a lot of problems but the government is focused on staying in power.

I did a little more DYOR about why the former president of the Philippines was taken to the Netherlands to face trial. He had a "bloody war/campaign" against drugs? I believe that THAT is an absolute SCAM. The United States has officially started their war on drugs since 1971, and the Drug Cartels has become wealthier, and MORE POWERFUL now than they were during 1971.

That war/campaign against drugs might merely be a scheme to get more of the annual budget under their control. Those people might be corrupt, just like MOST of those politicians in one of the MOST corrupt countries in the world.

He's got a legacy and that's handing over to ICC, a filipino and former president.  :D
We all knew what happened on why he'd won the election and that's because of the Sara Duterte supporters. If it's not because of Sara and Rody, he won't win the election on 2022. But this time, they're seeing how the people love the former president. And as for Martin, well, if people hates BBM, there's more hate to that greed man. He's even got a case related to bribery to a resort and casino in the state of delaware.

It's different in the Philippines; there's a positive result because people have found out that substances are being cooked inside the national penitentiary, and so many government officials are involved in this drug trade, and many drug addicts surrendered that goes over hundreds of thousands to the authorities. The government cannot keep up with the rehabilitation center; it's a bloody war, and there is collateral damage, but the citizens have seen how bad drug addiction is in the country.
And it was also the time that you could walk in the street safe because those addicts were behind bars or under rehabilitation.

That's CORRUPTION, ser. But WHO are corrupting those people in your government, and WHO are the largest Drug Cartels that operate in your region? Are they from China, Japan, India, Pakistan? You should DYOR on that and connect the dots. It could be Politics + the Drug Trade. 👀

Plus I believe you're NOT trying to understand the actual point of the FACT that despite the United States' "war against drugs", the Drug Cartels still grew and became more powerful.

 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And the bad thing is that the people are going to suffer from all this malpractice by the Marcoses. All the government money is being channel to vote buying?

That is the worst and we all know that sooner or later, maybe the Filipinos are going to be fed up by all of this corruption and the privileges and the oligarchs getting their power back. Definitely, we don't want the Philippines to be the next Venezuela. But if no one can stop the government, maybe one day, when it's too late, the Philippines will spiral downward that it's hard to recover specially if they are still in the power.

Populism is dangerous this way, as it's easy to get love and support by providing direct aid to people, even if there's no sustainability in that aid. I believe that direct aid, without any additional sustainability build-ups, should be the last resort, for temporary and critical situations, and it should be distributed to those to need it the most.
Corruption, of course, it also a huge issue. As a Ukrainian, I know it all too well. It's hard to distribute aid fairly when it can be misappropriated in very large amounts. It is even harder to bring systemic change when the current system is beneficial to those who are a part of it because the loopholes work well.
But it's important to make sure that the government does not forget who it serves. Unlike dictatorships, Ukrainians have already proven that they are ready to change their country, fight for freedom, and demand justice. I hope that in the Philippines, people can show their active position and civil society can overtake some functions where the state is failing miserably. I sure hope the Philippines will not be the next Venezuela.

The national debt has ballooned even though there’s no longer a pandemic and very few government projects are underway. I can already see a troubling pattern here. Currently, there are cases filed against them in the Supreme Court - I just hope action is taken quickly because this is an urgent matter. The future of the country is already at stake.

This year, we have elections, but only for senators down to local politicians. The presidential election won’t happen until 2028. Still, it would be a big help if the winning senators aren’t allies of Marcos. Right now, you can clearly see that many Filipinos are against the current administration, as reflected in surveys by independent vloggers which are far more reliable than the biased (and paid-off) results pushed by mainstream media.

I’ve already decided not to vote for the administration’s candidates in the election, and I’m confident they won’t win. But my fear is that since they’re in power, they might manipulate the results. If that happens, hope would be slim, and the only way to remove this administration would be through a bloody struggle… and I’m not sure if we’re ready to face that kind of battle.

They are not admitting it as an actual vote buying. They're making it as an aid of help to the poor. So, it makes it as a legal vote buying.

We don't want that to happen. Golds have been sold a lot and if they have to sell it, they should have waited for its ATH just this recent. But no, they're quick in corrupting the budget of the government and then, there's a news report that they're about to ask for a loan again. Billions in pesos again. They are too busy in pocketing the government's money because they know that this is going to be their last term and they're set for life. Also the health insurance (Philhealth) the judge that have used it didn't even covered half of his hospital bill, now it is in question so they have to return everything but are they going to do that?

So Duterte is arrested, I heard about his history a few days ago when someone from Philippines made a thread about him so I did some research and how his anti drug team fought drug lords and in the war there were casualties which should not be well if he is arrested then I think the case is closed now. Because there might be no way for him to be released again.

This is how establishments works, if there is any there, now I hope with the new government things will get more comfy.

Yes, he was arrested , and while I appreciate your research, it's premature to assume he won't be released since the case is still in the pre-trial phase. The next step would be trial, if the case qualifies. However, as we've seen with Duterte in the Philippines, despite international criticism labeling him a killer
 many Filipinos still support him because they credit his leadership for economic improvement and reduced crime rates. Some might argue crime statistics actually increased (due to the volume of drug dealers killed), but perhaps this is preferable to innocent lives being lost

Duterte is not an establishment, he was a former PH president.

Watching all the news from his attorneys and legal team, they're saying that there's a chance for him to get a release. But let's go there when he's already released, our government isn't going to coordinate and cooperate with that release and won't accept him back in the country. It's funny to think that this government has turned him over to the Hague and if the possibility of going back here is already there, they won't have him back and will reject his acceptance. See, Philippines politics is funnily dramatically.

Any legal team will say that they have a better chance against the opposing team; lawyers are like that; they are confident in their evidence and their presentation and they leave it up to the judges. I also read the opposing team's press release and they are confident of conviction, so it really depends on the presentation but based on what I read from both teams and independent lawyers, who are experts in international court proceedings, there is a possibility of conviction.
If ever there is a conditional release, the Marcos administration will not accept Duterte as they consider him to still be a threat to his administration because of his popularity back home.
 

While the budget for our country probably have been distributed to the ICC just for his conviction. Other world leaders have also said that this ICC institution is corrupt and that's why they don't depend on them anymore because they have a working legal and justice system. The same for us but this is purely intentional and political and that's why it's a political circus that we're seeing and these people left and right that are a part of it are the biggest part of it, the clowns and cohorts.

That's a worst situation a country can be into,a country that it's citizens and individuals can find or seek support or solace can't even help itself.it doesn't make any sense,mean what should be the excuse for such a unproductive outputs as a Nation.
That means the country has been legally collapsed, losing its crown and orderliness to rivalry.Their constitution needs to be replaced and adjusted.

Yes, it's the rampant corruption from the Congress of the Philippines down to their police. And that's why it's very dangerous to live right now because of high crimes as well. I just read that some billionaire was just killed together with is body guard even though they have paid in millions in ransom.

Not saying that Duterte administration is better because of his war on drugs and being prosecuted in ICC, but still during his time, crimes are low because they are afraid of the government. Unlike today, there are a lot of crimes, even road rages that turn into someone taking the lives of the other party.

Just say to see how this country turn from good to worst right now and maybe the next Venezuela with inflation rate and no regards to the rule of law.

It’s natural to draw parallels based on rising debt and social spending, but the Philippines and Venezuela differ greatly in history, institutions and economic structure. You can compare certain indicators debt-to-GDP ratios or budget priorities, but here are two reasons we won’t become Venezuela:

• The Philippine economy is far more diversified and boosted by large remittance inflows, which help stabilize consumption and foreign-exchange reserves.
• The central bank enjoys stronger independence and credibility, keeping inflation relatively in check compared to Venezuela’s monetary collapse.

This is politics at play politicians has a way of distracting people from the real issues by making the citizens feels happy while things are going wrong this is a political strategy that politicians use all over the world, politicians don't fix the real issues of society they keep the people on the Mercy of the political class by making sure that they citizens depends in poverty so that they can be controlled.


I feel that what is happening in the Philippines has some levels of international backing because one thing that I have been able to realize is that any country that is having a problem politically or even in their economic performance there is a level of international interference this is because these super powers don't want other countries to develop so that smaller countries can continues to depends on them

We can monitor the debt to GDP here - https://tradingeconomics.com/philippines/government-debt-to-gdp

It’s very important information when analyzing if a country is making the right decisions when it comes to borrowing. 
But at the end of the day, it’s the people who really feel if the money is used well as they’re the ones who see and experience what the government is doing. 

For this year, the administration really emphasized giving financial aid to the poor,  and honestly, that’s very similar to what Venezuelan leaders did before. 
That’s why this topic makes sense and deserves more discussion. 

Politics will always be part of a country, but these days, people are more aware. 
They can't easily control the flow of information anymore, thanks to social media, where anyone who loves their country can share their opinion and help others wake up to reality.