Duterte’s fist-salute and Philippine map. Photo: Bullit Marquez/AP Photo/Al Jazeera/touropia s 2019 comes to a close, we ask a question that many Filipinos are likely asking themselves as well: Is the Philippines still a democracy? Its three branches of government—the Senate, the Batasan, and the Judiciary—still exist. The problem is they no longer appear to be co-equal branches as required by the Constitution? Critics of President Rodrigo Duterte point to what they say is mounting evidence that his administration is systematically demolishing the checks and balances that underpin democracy. And as the powers of both houses of Congress, and the courts weaken, Duterte's executive branch grows stronger. In the Batasan—the Philippine Lower House, many members of Congress, switched sides and joined the president's coalition party after he won the election. That effectively neutralized any opposition in the Batasan. Then there is the snail's pace with which the Judiciary operates. Its glacial pace makes it an ineffective check to the president's power as well. Although we hail the recent ruling on the Maguindanao Massacre, we must remember that it took the court ten years to decide that case. For a time, it appeared that the Senate might be the only branch powerful enough to stand up to the president. But with the strong showing of administration-backed candidates during the last election, Duterte supporters now hold the majority in the Senate as well. So today, President Rodrigo Duterte appears to have total control over the entire government. Given this state of affairs, can we still say that democracy is alive and well in the Philippines? In the Book "How Democracies Die," the authors cite a quote by the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan. In 1993 the senator noted: Humans have a limited ability to cope with people behaving in ways that depart from shared standards. When unwritten rules are violated over and over, societies have a tendency to define deviancy down; to shift the standard. What was once seen as abnormal becomes normal." Is this what Filipinos are now experiencing? Have we been defining deviancy down so that even vulgar speech is now considered normal? Have extrajudicial killings become so commonplace that they no longer bother us? Are we okay with the fact that one person holds all the power and makes all the decisions? As we Filipinos begin 2020, let us take stock of where we are and where we are headed. We should ask ourselves if we are still living in a real democracy or one in name only? Published 12/30/2019