ABSTRACT
In the chapter on the Philippines’ response to COVID, Leslie A. Lopez, Jessica Sandra R. Claudio, Dennis B. Batangan, Joselito T. Sescon, and Haraya Marikit C. Mendoza (Ataneo de Manila), explore the political, economic, and health actions of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, specifically focusing on the emergence of the uniformed sector as a dominant state functionary to combat COVID. They argue the political leaders of the Philippines looked to history to militarise what was a complex public health emergency, with predictable results, and that the securitisation of a broad public concern such as COVID-19 was a natural extension of the administration’s attempts to securitise populist issues, such as the War on Drugs.
