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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
The Philippines’ COVID-19 Response : Securitising the Pandemic and Disciplining the Pasaway
:
Securitising the Pandemic and Disciplining the Pasaway
Contributor:
Hapal, Karl
Published:
SAGE Publications, 2021
Published in:
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 40 (2021) 2, Seite 224-244
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1177/1868103421994261
ISSN:
1868-1034;
1868-4882
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
The Philippine response to COVID-19 has been described as being one of the longest and strictest lockdowns in the world. Why has the Philippine government relied heavily on draconian measures in its “war” against COVID-19? And what discourse informed the framing of its response as a war against the virus? This article argues that the government’s reliance on draconian measures was a consequence of securitising COVID-19, appreciating the virus as an “existential threat.” The securitisation of COVID-19 was reinforced with a narrative characterising the situation of the country as being at war against an “unseen enemy.” This war-like narrative, however, invariably produced a subject, the pasaway. As the perpetual enemy of health and order, the pasaway became the target of disciplining and policing. The targeting of the pasaway was informed by deep-seated class prejudices and Duterte’s authoritarian tendencies.