Living Together in Precarious Times: COVID-19 in the Philippines

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the necessity—for social scientists and the rest of the public alike—of an ecological; non-anthropocentric view of the world as humans grapple with microbes; surround themselves with plants; and engage with non-human animals in ways that range from abuse to affection. This chapter uses this multispecies perspective to reflect on the Philippine experience of COVID-19; offering illustrative examples; sketching tentative insights; and concluding with a research agenda for future work

The Chemical Lives of Young Filipinos

Many young Filipinos are using a wide array of ‘chemicals’ that structure, and are structured by, their everyday lives. These chemicals - cosmetics, supplements, narcotics, beverages - range from local to foreign, cheap to expensive, licit to illicit; orally ingested to topically applied, and are used for different reasons in a variety of contexts. This chapter analyzes and seeks to make sense of the use of chemicals by young Filipinos

Anthropological Responses to COVID-19 in the Philippines

This article reflects on the roles anthropologists have played in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, and identifies the challenges – from the methodological to the political – they faced in fulfilling these roles. Drawing on the author\u27s personal and professional experiences in the country, as well as on interviews with other anthropologists, this article identifies three major roles for anthropologists: conducting ethnographic research; bearing witness to the pandemic through first-person accounts; and engaging various publics. All these activities have contributed to a greater recognition of the role of the social sciences in health crises, even as anthropologists struggle to gain the same legitimacy as their clinical and public health counterparts. The article concludes by making recommendations that can better prepare local anthropologists in responding to future health crises

‘They might mistake you for an “informant”’

This article is a reflection on doing anthropology in the Philippines amid the government’s punitive antidrug campaign and on the impact of ethnographic research on public discourses on drugs. Using my own ethnographic research as a starting point, I outline how a journal article I published about the lived experiences of young men who use drugs took on renewed significance years later, in a different policy regime. I then outline a research agenda for the anthropology of drug use in the country. Despite the ethical, methodological, and personal challenges of drug-related research, the potential to give voice to ‘hidden populations’ and argue for humane, evidenced-based policies should encourage anthropologists and other social scientists to persevere

Medical Populism and COVID-19 Testing

This paper uses the lens of medical populism to analyze the impact of biocommunicability on COVID-19 testing through a case study approach. The political efficacy of testing is traced through two mini-case studies: the Philippines and the United States. The case studies follow the approach of populism scholars in drawing from various sources that ‘render the populist style visible’ from the tweets and press releases of government officials to media reportage. Using the framework of medical populism, the case studies pay attention to the ways in which coronavirus testing figured in (1) simplification of the pandemic; (2) spectacularization of the crisis; (3) forging of divisions; and (4) invocation of knowledge claims. Identifying and critically analyzing how knowledge is generated is an essential step to recognizing the impact that political styles have on the COVID pandemic. The political actors in each case study have shaped knowledge of the epidemic, in the way they construct the idea of ‘testing’, and in how they mobilize testing as an ‘evidence-making practice’. Their actions shaped how the pandemic—as well as their responses—is measured. This framework contributes to public policy debates by providing evidence of the impact of medical populism on pandemic response efforts

Morality politics: Drug use and the Catholic Church in the Philippines

This article traces the trajectory of the Catholic Church’s discourses on drug use in the Philippines since the first time a statement was made in the 1970s. By drawing on official statements by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), it argues that shifts in emphasis have taken place through the years: the destruction of the youth, attack on human dignity, and then social moral decay. Collectively, they emanate from an institutional concern for peace and order. But they also reflect the moral panic around drug use that has been around for decades, which, on several occasions, Filipino politicians, including President Duterte, have mobilized as a populist trope. In this way, the article historicizes the Catholic Church’s official statements and frames them in terms of morality politics through which values and corresponding behavior are defined by an influential institution on behalf of society whose morality it deems is in decline. The article ends by reflecting on the recent statements by the CBCP that invoke compassion and redemption

Drugs and the Marcos dictatorship: the beginnings of the Philippines’ punitive drug regime (1970–1975)

This article identifies the early dictatorship of former President Ferdinand Marcos as a significant moment in drug policy in the Philippines, as well as the wider Southeast Asian region. Using methods of critical discourse analysis and the notion of episodic history, it shows how the Marcos government capitalized on the idea of a ‘drug menace’ and narrativized the ideal of ‘discipline’ to justify its authoritarian regime and establish a heavily prohibitionist and punitive drug paradigm in the country. Conflating drug addiction, activism, Communist subversion, and criminality into an amalgamated boogeyman, Marcos was able to construct a singular ‘enemy of the state’ that warranted the imposition of martial law and the launch of a drug war. This discourse was co-constructed with various actors and institutions across civil society, including the Catholic Church, academics, filmmakers, and the numerous drug-related nonprofits that proliferated during the time. By elucidating the sociopolitical construction of Marcos’ drug war, this article demonstrates how punitive drug policies take shape, garner popular support, and legitimize state efforts to move toward authoritarianism. Moreover, it situates drug wars not as exceptions to history, but as parts of a continuum determined by global policy currents and geopolitical influences; as co-constructed narratives built on enduring, popular attitudes toward drugs and drug use, and past drug regimes and drug wars. In the case of Marcos’ drug war—itself heavily molded by American forces at the time—it provided the foundations for the region’s prohibitionist drug ideologies and future drug wars, including the exceptionally violent war waged during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte (2016–2022)

The Politics of Drug Rehabilitation in the Philippines

The international consensus to end compulsory drug treatments and close forced rehabilitation facilities needs urgent transformation to country policies. In the Philippines, as with other countries in Asia, rehabilitation can be compulsory and is seen as the humane alternative to the “war on drugs.” In this paper, we present the landscape of rehabilitation and narrate the ways in which people who use drugs are forced to undergo treatment. We unpack the politics behind rehabilitation and explain the sociocultural foundations that support compulsory treatment. We argue that a transition to a human rights-based approach, including voluntary alternatives in community settings, is possible by capitalizing on the reforms that are, unwittingly, the result of the “war on drugs.

Communicating COVID-19 Vaccines: Lessons from the Dengue Vaccine Controversy in the Philippines

As countries around the world begin to roll out COVID-19 vaccines; vaccine safety communication is more relevant than ever. The dengue vaccine controversy in the Philippines offers lessons that can be applied to immunisation programmes being organised today to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective vaccine safety communication entails (re)building relationships of trust between government and the public; upholding the credibility of scientific institutions and maintaining transparency. It also involves viewing health against the broader framework of equity; using an interdisciplinary approach to health communication and putting a premium on public feedback