Rodrigo Duterte is a Filipino strongman who has publicly supported vigilante justice on the streets of Davao, where he has been mayor on and off since the late 1980s; a divisive leader who claims through profanity-laden speeches that he will end crime by killing criminals and feeding them to fish. ‘The Punisher’ — a nickname he has cultivated with his fierce crackdowns on drugs and organised crime — has ridden a surge in support to win his country’s presidential elections in May.
Voters rejected the administration’s candidate Manuel Roxas, and early favourite Grace Poe, instead backing a relative outsider who has promised to shake up a political system that many see as being wracked with corruption and beset by ongoing militancy and crime. An unashamed populist, he says he will reintroduce hanging and end a long-running maritime dispute with China by jet-skiing to a disputed reef and planting the flag of the Philippines, but he has also demonstrated a surprising liberalism on issues such as LGBT rights.
Observers have been shocked by Duterte’s rise, given the country’s difficult history with strongmen. The regime of Ferdinand Marcos was characterised by brutality and corruption.
The Philippines has experienced strong and sustained economic growth during Benigno Aquino’s five years in office, but income inequality is still a major challenge for the country’s 100 million people.
The country also faces an ongoing Islamist insurgency in its south, where Abu Sayyaf militants have declared an allegiance to the so-called Islamic State, and where the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is still fighting for independence for the island of Mindanao.
Duterte has promised to empower the military to deal with this violence. Eufracia Taylor, Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, says that Duterte’s plans to hand over more power to the security forces could undermine, rather than promote the rule of law in the country, by further entrenching the impunity with which they have often acted. Among other promises, the president-elect has said that he will tackle corruption in the police force by raising their salaries.
“Corruption, more often than not, is about impunity. Raising the salaries of the security forces may reduce the impetus to solicit bribes, but to be effective it must be accompanied by initiatives that ensure security personnel are accountable for their actions,” Taylor says.
“Much of the public mistrust the police force, so empowering them further could absolutely further aggravate public frustrations. In particular in unstable areas, such as Mindanao, where the military and the police have incredibly strained ties with local communities. They’re seeing that they can act in whatever way they please. Now you have a presidential line that essentially backs that, it could become an even bigger problem.”
PHOTO: NOEL CELIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
