What Would You Say to President Duterte

The Philippines is far away and the country's political culture is not well known in France. Rodrigo Duterte, the "strong man" of Manila, is the typical example of a leader who came to power through the ballot box but whose exercise of power, of unprecedented brutality, breaks with democratic traditions. François-Xavier Bonnet, associate researcher with the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (Irasec), allows us to better understand where Rodrigo Duterte comes from and what he represents.

Michel Duclos, Geopolitical Special Advisor, editor of this series.

Rodrigo Duterte, elected on 9 May 2016 with 39% of the votes (the vote is in one round) is probably the most controversial President in Philippine history. Alternately nicknamed by the Western media the "Trump of the Philippines", "Dirty Harry", "The Punisher" or even, in the newspaper Libération, the "serial killer", Rodrigo Duterte built his entire election campaign on an unorthodox program to eradicate criminal activities, particularly drug-related ones, and to restore security within three to six months. He also proposed to eliminate corruption among civil servants, to simplify and accelerate administrative procedures, to allow for divorce and same-sex marriage, to improve traffic in Greater Manila, to reduce inequalities in rural areas (agrarian reform), to improve the speed of the Internet, etc. This catalogue of heterogeneous measures enabled candidate Duterte to "cast a wide net" and speak to all classes of society. His charisma as an orator combined with a strong dose of humor and machismo, along with a very strong presence on social networks, can explain his excellent scores in the election, in all social classes.

An unyielding mayor in a violent city

Rodrigo Duterte, born in 1945 and son of a former governor of the province of Davao (on the southern island of Mindanao), spent his entire political career in Davao City. In 1986, he was elected deputy mayor, and then mayor of this city, and remained so for 22 years. In the late 1980s, Davao City was called "Little Nicaragua" because communist and Muslim guerrillas sent death squads there to assassinate soldiers, politicians, businessmen and other "enemies of the people", and crime syndicates took advantage of this chaos.

Rodrigo Duterte's reputation grew because of his ability, thanks to a carrot and stick approach, to transform Davao City into a city with a flourishing economy, where the safety of both the people and property was ensured, on an island ravaged by various guerrillas. The first strategy - the carrot - aimed to sign secret peace agreements between the City Hall of Davao and various rebel groups that stipulated, for instance, that Davao City was a neutral area that could be crossed by the rebels as long as they left their weapons at the entrance of the territory.

The strong man of Davao, who is very open about the fact that he was undisciplined during his youth (he was expelled twice from high school, and once from a private university), was special advisor on security issues to President Gloria Arroyo (2001-2010). He was later elected on slogans such as: "I was able to develop Davao, I will develop the whole nation". Or: "if necessary, I will impose martial law to establish discipline, the martial law under President Marcos was a good thing for the country". Thus, the undisciplined who wanted to discipline his people switched, against all odds, from the position of "local potentate" to that of father of the nation. The use of possessive pronouns in his speeches is one of the President's trademarks: "my police", "my soldiers", "my city", etc. are all clues hinting at the fact that Rodrigo Duterte has not yet donned his presidential clothes, and remains first and foremost the mayor of Davao. In fact, he returns to Davao very often and spends as little time as possible at the presidential palace (Malacanang) in Manila, because he can only sleep in his bed in Davao- or so he says.

"The war on drugs", a political weapon?

"I promise you blood, the bay of Manila will be covered with corpses and the fish will grow fat", claimed candidate Duterte during his campaign. And in fact, a key element of the President's program, "the war on drugs", was immediately implemented. To date, since 1 July 2016, 108,059 anti-drug operations have been carried out (almost 40% of which since the end of 2017), resulting in the arrest of 155,193 people and the killing of 4,854 people during these police operations. Yet human rights organizations estimate that more than 12,000 people have been summarily executed by death squads. In less than two years, President Duterte's "war on drugs" thus exceeded the number of summary executions committed during the 14 years of President Marcos' dictatorship.

Yet, beyond statistics, the fact that the "war on drugs" was used as a political strategy to eliminate both national and local opponents to power seems to be confirmed. The first victim was Senator Leila De Lima, former Chair of the Human Rights Commission and then Justice Secretary under the Aquino administration (2010-2016). Rodrigo Duterte's number one enemy was accused of controlling the archipelago's drug trade and was incarcerated in February 2017. Similarly, the mayor of the city of Iloilo, Jed Mabilog, in exile in Japan, is accused of protecting drug trafficking in the Visayas. Mr Mabilog is a cousin of former President of the Senate and Liberal Party chairman Franklin Drilon. For many observers, there is no doubt that the government is attacking Mabilog in order to try to intimidate Senator Drilon, the President's leading critic. Vice President Leni Robredo is not spared either. Indeed, since August 2018, her brother-in-law, Butch Robredo, has been accused by President Duterte of leading a mafia controlling drug trafficking in Bicol province, and more particularly in the city of Naga.

Other personalities opposed to the "war on drugs", but not accused of protecting mafias, were targeted by President Duterte in 2018. The first was Maria Lourdes Sereno, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Ms Sereno has been President Duterte's prime target since he took office in June 2016. The latter not only insulted her, but went so far as to call her "a personal enemy" in some of his speeches.

What Would You Say to President Duterte

Source: https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/blog/portrait-rodrigo-duterte-president-philippines

Share this post