ABSTRACT
This chapter on neoliberalism and the rise of authoritarianism in the Philippines explains the development of the fascist regime of Rodrigo Duterte as well as of past administrations marked with militarism and dictatorship, resulting in rampant violations of human rights in the Philippines. It locates the structural sources of such phenomenon in the logic of global capitalism and its neoliberal ideology maintained by capitalist imperialism buttressed by militarism. Articulated in the form of U.S.-supported counterinsurgency against the Philippine revolutionary forces that challenge the exploitative structures of global capitalism that coexist with the feudal/semi-feudal/capitalist Philippine economy, the chapter shows how successive fascist dictatorships in the Philippines have maintained a ruling class whose power and wealth derives from the perpetuation of an oppressive system tied to transnational capitalism. The chapter contends that historically rooted in its neocolonial status in the world capitalist system, the current political-economic structure of neoliberal authoritarian capitalism in the Philippines is at the roots of poverty, wide-scale social-class inequalities, and underdevelopment that has generated resistance from various sectors, including a revolutionary movement that has persisted for over half a century.
