[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.
[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.
