"President Rodrigo Duterte ended his term in May 2022 amid a violent drug war and the hardships of the COVID pandemic. His job approval rating remained high - as much as 91% according to one poll - even as the majority of the people had become increasingly pessimistic about the state of the country. And to this day, despite having been arrested by the ICC, his popularity continues to hold, Why this massive popularity amid the most catastrophic of conditions? Why did his governance by fear meet with such widespread approval? Or is it the case that focusing on Duterte, we've missed something much more fundamental, namely the historical persistence of structures of power that envelop and enable the survival of sprawling urban communities where his support was most evident? How did his authoritarian imaginary circulate and reinforce existing notions of community?"