Radical Intellectualism in Mindanao
By Menelito Mansueto (MSU-IIT)
The statement “Risa Hontiveros achieved nothing” became a viral post that ignited a social media storm very recently. It was a Facebook post by Philosophy Professor Dr Christopher Ryan Maboloc. The statement angered the liberal folks who accused the philosophy scholar of being an enabler. But that's not the case. The said post was simply his reaction to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing last October 28, 2024.
The verbal attacks and insinuations against the professor date back as far as 2018 upon the publication of his article, “The Radical Politics of Nation-States: The Case of President Rodrigo Duterte” in the Journal of ASEAN Studies. In fact, Maboloc is also the author of the controversial book Radical Democracy in the Time of Duterte, published by ElzyStyle Publishing. The criticisms and tirades on social media against the scholar is nothing new to him and does not surprise him as he has dealt with these issues years back.
There are more than 20 essays and articles published on Duterte's radical politics since the publication of the seminal research of Dr. Maboloc on the Duterte presidency. I can mention the papers of Benjiemen Labastin, Gerry Arambala, Givheart Dano, Ruben Balotol and myself but we have not been attacked. The critics of Dr. Maboloc are mostly college teachers and university professors based in Cebu. Nevertheless, their claim for whatever its worth has not been substantiated.
Dr. Maboloc has nothing to do with President Duterte's policies. He is only giving his own clinical assessment of the matter. The statement “Risa Hontiveros achieved nothing” surely has a pretext. A series of negative media publicity and character assassinations hurled against the Dutertes and anyone else who is perceived as an ally has been at work as the Senate hearings went on regarding other issues. The Senate investigations are obviously a concerted and orchestrated effort, all designed to assassinate the character of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Meanwhile, it is to be recalled that as early as January of this year, Former President Rodrigo Duterte, together with Davao del Norte congressman Pantaleon Alvarez, proposed the secession of Mindanao from the country. Dr. Maboloc even wrote an op-ed saying that it cannot be possible. There are of course other issues that naturally involved House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the cousin of the President, who is planning to run for the country's top post in 2028.
The critics of the philosophy professor from Davao City obviously have a myopic view since nothing in his statement suggests an endorsement of EJKs. Indeed, the attacks are nothing more than a manifestation of their anti-Duterte rhetoric. The very same people who have questioned the political comeback of the Marcoses in Philippine politics, those who promoted the election hashtags #NeverAgain, are the same people who are now supporting the policies of the current administration.
What’s wrong with these people? Senator Risa Hontiveros, for instance, is doing President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. a big favor by going after the Dutertes, but not the Liberal Party, whose senatorial candidates continue to lag behind in surveys. Some random social media warriors in the country are indeed short-sighted and are suffering from a short term amnesia. They are just compromising their own moral principles, all for the sake of political mileage and presumably, survival.
Professor Maboloc who proposed the radical reading of Philippine democracy using the lens of Chantal Mouffe has been put into the limelight. His many papers on Philippine Democracy are now well known, thanks to the social media attention. Indeed, the impact of his scholarship is felt by means of how it has influenced the discourse on Philippine politics. In my opinion, his own analysis is unique as it does not succumb to the tendency of being beholden to scholars from the capital.
It appears right now that the past claim of misappropriation by some, especially by a UP Cebu faculty, is nothing short of a form of professional jealousy as Mouffe could not have read the whole corpus of Maboloc's work. In fact, Maboloc supports the Church's protest against the War on Drugs. Scholars from Mindanao are actually carving their own niche in political theory. The papers by Labastin, Arambala, Rogelio Bayod, and Ian Parcon, among others are in fact gaining traction. The contestation is clear proof of the radical nature of politics in the country, which has now invaded academia.
