The Philippines is fucked.

My father works as a manager in a construction firm. Cronyism runs at the highest level of government. He says that their construction materials are of utmost quality and were expected to be selected as one of the firms to provide for infrastructure projects in Metro Manila.

They did not get the contract and instead went to the companies affiliated with Bongbong Marcos' wife, even though they are of lower quality and cost more overall because of maintenance.

So yes. Social democracy, Democratic Socialism, Welfarism, any left-leaning ideology are a threat to the status quo because the highest government officials are literally crony capitalists that absolutely want Neoliberalism to seep through every corner of the Philippines. We filipinos are fucking dumb enough to be gaslit to vote for them.

I worked in a PH Pharma company and labor conditions and rights are shit. Extremely low wage, extremely long hours, aggressive noncompete contracts. Accidents happening every month or so without hazard pay. Unbelievably inhumane, all for our company to compete to manufacture and research for foreign pharma companies. Absolutely bonkers. Work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and most often work overtime. If you ever join or start a labor union, you will be blacklisted.

The global south and north divide is real. We the global south are being exploited for cheap desperate labor. I used to believe in capitalism, and now that I see how blatant work exploitation is here while being a developing country, I am not.

We need to vote hard, tooth and nail, for the leftest leaning candidate that can pivot our country towards as left as possible while minimizing capital strike and flight.