Papers

• Infrastructure Governance under the Duterte Presidency: “The Golden Age of Infrastructure”? Susumu Ito University of Niigata Prefecture

  Faced with huge infrastructure gap in the country, the Duterte administration announced a flagship infrastructure investment program called “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) of 8.4 trillion pesos (about USD 170 billion) which includes 75 large-scale flagship infrastructure projects in 2017. The administration has promised to usher in a “golden age of infrastructure” by building and modernizing major infrastructure throughout the country. How has President Duterte changed infrastructure governance from his predecessor, Aquino III administration? How has BBB evolved? This paper will assess infrastructure governance of the Philippines under the Duterte Presidency by mainly focusing on financing aspect including mode of finance between public finance and public-private partnership (PPP) and financial assistance from China through Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The paper will also discuss changes in infrastructure governance during this current Presidency including rise of unsolicited PPP, low utilization of financial assistance from China, and implications of COVID-19.

• Philippine conglomerates and Dutertismo Antoinette Raquiza University of the Philippines

  Despite the anti-oligarchic rhetoric that has defined President Rodrigo Duterte’s term since 2016, the Philippine economy had averaged a high six percent annually up until the pandemic hit in 2019. In fact, the country’s biggest conglomerates’ fortunes grew parallel to the economy’s expansion regardless of which business elite drew the ire of the administration. The study examines two revenue streams that have grown tremendously and animated the Philippine business class since the mid-2000s – notably, the billion-dollar labor export industry and the privatization of public service and utilities, and argues that these trends – both stemming from the country’s neoliberal governance - have consolidated the dominance of commercial interests in the country. This mode of capital accumulation, with limited linkages to the country’s real economy, largely explains its resiliency in the face of domestic political volatility.

• The Changes and Continuities of Economic Reform and Governance under the Duterte Presidency Shingo Mikamo Shinshu University

  Can the Philippine President radically change economic policy and governance within the 6 years term? This paper will examine the changes and continuities of economic policy and governance under the Duterte Presidency. President Duterte has kept a radical agenda on “War on Drugs”. Political reform toward federalism must have a significant impact on governance. However, the policy reform has not implemented. The “Build, Build, Build” program has been ambitious, but the government has been concerned about the debt burden. Fiscal and monetary policy reforms have been consistent in the past three decades. Fiscal and monetary measures to encounter economic shocks under the COVID-19 pandemic are orthodox ones. President Duterte has a unique leadership style and maintains the high level of popularity. Examining “radical” reformism of the Duterte Presidency will provide good testing cases for the level of institutionalization of economic policy making and governance in the Philippines.

Abstract