Duterte the Punisher

[5/5/20] Philippines orders leading TV network to shut down

[1/9/19] Duterte muses the kidnapping and torture of state auditors

[12/14/16] Duterte claims he personally killed suspects

[10/20/16] Duterte separates from the United States, realigns with China

[10/14/16] The rest of the world may have trouble understanding this, but Mr. Duterte still commands ardent support in the Philippines.

Since he took office in June promising to kill drug addicts and dealers, about 1,400 people have been killed by the police in antidrug operations, and hundreds more by vigilantes. His embrace of violence has shocked other countries and brought condemnation from human rights groups.

He has compared himself to Hitler (and later apologized), called President Obama a “son of a whore,” and joked after an Australian missionary was raped and killed that “she was so beautiful” he should have been first to rape her. He has lashed out at the pope, despite leading a nation that is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, and cursed the United Nations and the European Union.

No matter. For many Filipinos, Mr. Duterte’s passionate outbursts, however crude and impolitic, are signs of his fearlessness and willingness to act. The weak leadership of previous presidents, they say, led to high rates of violent crime, drug use, woefully inadequate infrastructure and widespread poverty.

[10/4/16] Duterte tells Obama to go to hell

[7/5/16] The Philippines’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte, appears to be living up to his nickname after less than a week in office.

Police in the island country have said that some 30 suspected drug dealers have been killed since Duterte—dubbed The Punisher for his hardline stance on drugs—was sworn into office Thursday.

Formerly the mayor of the southern town of Davao, Duterte, 71, was elected in May following an explosive campaign in which he vowed to kill thousands of criminals and “fatten the fish” in Manila Bay in the capital Manila by dumping their bodies there. Following his oath, Duterte urged his supporters to do away with drug traffickers, reportedly saying: “Go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful.”

The police chief for the Manila region, Oscar Albayalde, said that five drug dealers were killed following a gun battle with police Sunday, Reuters reported. Three other people were killed in other parts of Manila Sunday, while 22 were killed outside the capital. Police also made a seizure of 180 kilograms of methamphetamine—known locally as shabu—worth around 900 million Philippine pesos ($19 million), according to national police chief Ronald dela Rosa.

In total, more than 100 people have died—most suspected drug dealers, rapists and car thieves—in police operations since the election on May 9.