President Duterte - Savior of the Philippines or Corrupter of Justice?
By Thompson Kum
Introduction:
Rodrigo Duterte (born March 28th, 1945), former president of the Philippines (from 2016-2022), a ruthless pursuer of justice and order in the eyes of the Filipino people, yet a corrupt human rights abuser responsible for the massacre of many innocents in the eyes of organisations such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch. But who was he and how did his contributions shape the modern Philippines? This article hopes to provide a bipartisan perspective on Duterte as a whole, his ruling and his impacts.
Origins: Rodrigo Duterte ~ Mayor of Davao City
Duterte was appointed the mayor of Davao City in 1988, and was re-elected twice over the subsequent decade. During his more than two decades as mayor, he transformed Davao city from a lawless haven into one of the safest places in Southeast Asia.
However, critics such as Amnesty International or the Human Rights Watch accused Duterte of more than a 1000 extrajudicial killings. Rather than denying these allegations, Duterte embraced them. The death squads responsible for the killings worked under an impunity that strongly implied official sanction, and Duterte praised both their methods and results.
Through this, Duterte was able to foster his image as a ruthlessly effective vigilante in the months leading to his presidential election. His anti-disestablishmentarian message captivated the Filipino populace, sick of the official corruption in the Philippines. Duterte’s harsh mannerisms and speaking style led to comparisons between him and the Republican representative at the time, Donald Trump.
Duterte’s stance regarding Philippines’ most prevalent foreign policy issue, the contested Spratly Islands, caused apprehension among the country’s allies. His stance fluctuated between a negotiated statement with China and a claim that he would take ownership of the islands, sticking a Filipino flag on them.
On May 9, approximately 80% of eligible voters turned out for the election, and Duterte received great electoral success, with his landslide victory capturing the votes of nearly two of his fiercest political competitors combined.
Possible Reasons for Electoral Success: A Corrupt Philippines
I believe that the major reason for Duterte’s electoral success was the impact of President Ferdianand Marcos’ regime, namely the increased guerrilla activities caused by Maoist and Muslim separatist forces. Duterte’s harsh attitude on crime was able to produce significant results, with Davao city becoming one of the safest places to live in Southeast Asia.
I believe this to be imperative for his popularity, as one of the main reasons as to the ousting of Marcos was the civil unrest generated by his corrupt measures through the martial law, which led to an increase of communist guerilla activities in rural areas of the Philippines.
Duterte’s Reign ~ The War On Drugs
Days after his electoral victory, Marcos vowed to reintroduce the death penalty, which was abolished in the Philippines in 2006, in tune with this promise to ‘fatten the fish” in Manila Bay with the bodies of criminals. He promoted vigilantism to the public, stating that he would personally reward anyone who shot and killed a drug deal.
On June 30th, 2016, Duterte was inaugurated as president of the Philippines, and within the first six months of his rule, 6000+ people were killed as a result of his “War on Drugs”, with a ¼ of the deaths arising during police operations. The overwhelming majority of the killings were a result of extrajudicial killings orchestrated by death squads. Metro Manila’s funeral parlours were inadequate for managing the mass amounts of deaths, and hundreds of unidentified or unclaimed bodies placed in mass burials.
Human rights organisations and Roman Catholic officials opposed the bloodshed, but Duterte denied their criticisms accusing the church of corruption and sexual abuse against children. Western governments also expressed concern for the widespread vigilantism, but Duterte claims that the West could only offer the Philippines “doublespeak”, thus strengthening his ties with Russia and China.
Consequently, the U.S suspended the sale of 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines on grounds of human rights abuses, and in 2017, Marcos met with the Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss the possibility of an arms deal. During his time in Moscow, a series of conflicts and clashes occurred between Filipino troops and Islamist fighters connected to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) in Marawi.
Upon receiving this news, Marcos immediately returned to the Philippines and declared a state of martial law that encompassed the entirety of the island of Mindanao. Whilst government forces effectively quelled the rebellion and reclaimed Marawi, the declaration was renewed by the end of 2019, making it the longest period of time where the law was effective since Ferdinand Marcos.
Justice For All? ~ Duterte V.S The International Criminal Court
In February 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a preliminary investigation into the 12,000+ deaths initiated by Duterte’s “War on Drugs”. Within the following month, Duterte responded to this by announcing his intention to withdraw the Philippines from the ICC, with the withdrawal becoming official in 2019.
In September 2021, the ICC authorised a full investigation into Duterte’s actions, but was suspended two months later when officials in Manila asserted that they were conducting their own inquiries regarding the extrajudicial killings. International and local human rights organisations remained critical of Duterte, but he continued to dismiss them.
The situation escalated to a point where Duterte commanded the police to shoot down activists if they were “obstructing justice” and press freedoms were reduced. A notable example of this would be Maria Ressa, cofounder of a news website that documented the worst excesses of Duterte’s “War on Drugs”, who was arrested several times on grounds of questionable charges.
The difference in moral ideals between Duterte and the international community can be best exemplified through the Nobel Peace Prize of 2021, awarded to Ressa. This was due to her “using freedom of expression to expose the abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country”.
The End of Duterte’s Reign ~ Clinging to Power and the Marcos’ Return
Despite his controversies, Duterte remained popular amongst the Filipino public, and voters in May 2019 delivered a unanimous endorsement of his agenda by supporting a slate of pro-Duterte candidates. Duterte maintained his grasp over the House of Representatives, and by taking control of the Senate, he removed the only remaining effective check over his administration.
Whilst constitutionally being restricted to serving a single presidential term, Duterte engaged in ideas for staying in power. In September 2021, his party nominated him as candidate for vice president, but he unexpectedly withdrew from the race in the following month. After a short-lived proposal for a seat in the Philippines Senate, Duterte announced that he planned to retire from politics after overseeing the transfer of power to his successor.
By May 2022, when the Filipinos went to the polls, Duterte had endorsed his daughter Sara Duterte in her successful bid for position as vice president, but he remained largely detached from the presidential race. The polls gave way to an electoral success for Ferdinand Marcos Jr, successor to the authoritarian leader Ferdinand Marcos, responsible for the martial law and the economic collapse of the Philippines.
Conclusion: The Philippines Under Duterte
Under the Duterte presidency, the Philippines has undergone a great shift into a more authoritarian style of governance. He directed responsibility regarding social issues to drug addicts, reportedly stating in his presidential campaign that he would slaughter three million drug addicts how Hitler slaughtered three million Jews.
This approach enabled him to strengthen his power by suppressing opposition, diminishing effective checks over his administration, such as his control over the House of Representatives and his taking over of the Philippines Senate, and his reduction of press freedoms, such as the arrests of Maria Ressa, cofounder of a news site that documented his reign’s worst excesses.
However, Duterte was also simultaneously able to drop the Philippines’ crime rate by 73.6% in the first five years of his term (according to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Eduardo Año), with Año also stating that index crimes dropped from 131,699 in 2016 to 34,552 in 2021. (Index crimes are defined as offenses serious in nature with sufficient frequency and regularity, which encompasses: murder, homicide, rape, robbery, carnapping, physical injuries and eight other special complex crimes).
Duterte’s war on drugs also produced other significant effects, such as the seizure of shabu and marijuana worth $27,580,509 Filipino Pesos from February 13-19 in 2022. Año also reports that the anti-narcotics authorities conducted 916 operations, wherein 1,281 individuals were arrested with three fatalities and 47 others voluntarily gave themselves up.
Regarding the coronavirus as of late, international sources place emphasis on the disease’ early effects whilst domestic sources highlight the improvements as of late.
International sources highlight that the coronavirus task force under Duterte was dominated by police and military personnel, which operated under a forceful and security-oriented approach that often overlooked health standards, with this being attributed to the fifth-highest count of reported coronavirus fatalities in Southeast Asia.
Contrasting this, domestic sources emphasise the continuous improvement in the country’s coronavirus situation, with only 14 cities and municipalities under granular lockdowns as of 2022. Whilst this contradicts the general negative perspective of international sources regarding Duterte’s rule, this is corroborated by said source, with a precedent potential robust economic recovery foresaw for the Philippines in 2021 and 2022.
In conclusion, I believe that domestically, Duterte is viewed upon with respect, and has been accredited to reducing crime rates and the severity of the coronavirus, whilst internationally, he is scrutinised for his control over effective checks against his administration, the extrajudicial deaths and rampant vigilantism he initiated, the curtailing of press freedoms and his failings in the coronavirus.
References:
Rodrigo Duterte | Facts, Biography, Education, & Controversies | Britannica