The man is foul mouthed, vows to kill all drug addicts and threatens to abolish the Filipino congress if it opposes him. He claims to be the scourge of the elite, plans to burn the flag of Singapore, expel the Australian Embassy, and show people his private parts. And now Rodrigo Duterte, 71, former mayor of Davao City, is the newly minted president of the Philippines.
Nicknamed “The Punisher,” the “executioner,” and even “The Trump of the East,” Duterte has taken the nation of 100 million people by storm. He presents himself as populist outsider, and a tough-on-crime executive who will fix all the ills of the nation. “His meteoric rise, coupled with his fascist appeal and anti-establishment persona, echoes “outsider” campaigns elsewhere.” Filipinos are anxious for change from the elite superrich and corrupt politicians that have held sway for many, many years.
Since Filipinos drove Ferdinand Marcos from office in 1986, they have witnessed land reform fail, corruption scandals erupt, infrastructure decay, and responses to natural disasters bungled. Journalists have been massacred; peace treaties upended, state harassment or outright murder of farmers, student activists, and labor leaders. It is as if Marcos never left, some say.
Wealth inequality in the Philippines continues to widen with the 40 richest families growing their wealth by $13 billion in 2010-2011, (76.5 percent of the country’s increase in GDP during that period), while 25% of the population live in poverty.
As mayor of Davao City since 1988, he became known for his anti-crime policies. He claims that he turned the city mired in crime into the ninth-safest city in the world. How does he fight crime? He explained that the best practices in the city “are the killings [of criminals],” a theme he has repeated throughout his campaign: to reduce crime, kill the criminals.
And no one doubts he will follow through on his threats. Human Rights Watch has chronicled the rise of “death squads” in Davao City: groups of men on the government payroll who kill petty criminals, street children, and drug dealers. For Duterte, this is not a problem. It’s a platform. And the bravado seems to be enough for Filipino voters, especially the middle class that is frustrated with the intractable corruption. To them, his is not a disaster; he is a “truth-teller.”
He called the pope “the son of a whore” — seemingly for worsening Manila’s traffic during his official visit. And he told criminals to “watch out”: If I become president, he said, “The fish in Manila Bay will get fat. That is where I will dump you!”
In short, his rise is a people’s revenge. His cursing mouth is the proxy spokesman for the people’s own cursed lives. He will establish law and order. He will destroy the elite. He will kill the bad guys. Rodrigo Duterte is the reaction to the corruption and misuse of power.
Like so many other places, the Philippines has seen a shift away from elitism toward populism. Where this will end up is anybody’s guess. But it is clear that Duterte is the consequence of the corruption of previous leaders.
Massive corruption and violence lead to a political revolution that installs a strong man, a “dictator” demanded by the people, and willing to do what the populous demands. The rule of the mob just took another big step forward, laying the foundation for more trouble as we near the end of human probation.