What’s going on with the country when a president publicly declares on television that he’s “forgotten about human rights” and orders the violators to be “directly shot”?
In 2020, during the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, a 63-year-old farmer in the Philippines was shot dead by police officers who arrived because he did not wear a mask and had a quarrel with quarantine officers. This is not an isolated case, but Duterte will shoot and kill if he refuses to control it."
It is this president, who is called a "killer maniac" in the West, but he maintains a support rate of more than 80% in the Philippines all the year round. He publicly admitted that murder was his "major feature", and once said that "all drug dealers, robbers and idlers should be killed". Nearly 20,000 people have lost their lives in his war on drugs.
01 Bloodthirsty Mayor: the "executioner" from Davao City
Duterte’s violent rule did not begin as a president, but during his 28 years as mayor of the city of Davos, he had “killed people famously.”
According to incomplete statistics, during those decades, he executed as many as 1424 "bad guys" without trial. When the police couldn't kill him, he hired killers to form a firing squad.
A martyr named Matobato testified that he had been involved in at least 50 murders or abductions under Duterte’s instructions. The suspects had different fates: some were tied to feed crocodiles, some were tied to the sea with cement, and some were buried in a burial place.
"We looked at each other and I stabbed him to death." Duterte once recalled killing in his youth with such an understatement. This disregard for life ran through his political career.
02 The War on Drugs: Bloody Massacre in the Name of Justice
As President-elect in 2016, Duterte immediately launched the world-shocking “war on drugs,” a campaign that has attracted global attention with its cruelty and randomness.
Nearly 6,000 people were executed in the first half of the War on Drugs. By June 2019, the death toll had reached 20,000. Most of them were labeled as "drug dealers" or "drug addicts", but there were also a large number of innocent civilians who were mistakenly killed.
Duterte defended the massacre: “Don’t forget human rights, I want to clean up this country,” and, under his encouragement, police and vigilante (civil security groups) executed suspects on the streets at will.
International Abandoned Children: The World’s Angry “Crazy President”
Duterte’s violent policies have sparked strong condemnation in the international community, but his response is equally blatant.
When former U.S. President Barack Obama criticized him, he responded: "You son of a bitch." Faced with accusations from former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he responded rudely: "You are just another fool."
His criticism of the Catholic Church was particularly fierce, even openly laughing at "God is a fool." This is particularly abnormal in a country with a majority Catholic. Later, he revealed the reason: When he was in middle school, he was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest.
"Because he was young and forbeared, he didn't dare to say it." He didn't make this past public until he became president. The priest was later charged with misconduct in Los Angeles, and the Jesuit of America spent $16 million to settle the scandal.
Duterte's Paradox: Why Do People Love "Killing Demons"?
Western observers are puzzled: How can such a "dub" succeed to the presidency and maintain an approval rating of more than 80% all year round? This is the so-called "Duterte Paradox".
The answer is hidden in the distorted political soil in the Philippines.
The Philippines is the “American window of democracy in Asia.” In fact, 178 political families controlled a feudal state in 73 administrative districts in 80 provinces.These families married and competed with each other, controlling local power for decades and even passing it down through their children.
Before Duterte, the judiciary was almost powerless on these political families, and once a family is rooted somewhere, the relationship tends to be more complex and closely integrated with its surroundings,” explains a political analyst from Manila.
Tragedy: Bloodwashing Political Family’s “Crazy President”
At 2:30 a.m. on July 31, 2017, a two-hour gunfight broke out in the residence of the mayor of Osram. When the sun rose, his wife, son, brother, sister and all 11 relatives, including the mayor, were killed.
The people who carried out this massacre were not bandits, but armed police from the provincial police station and the municipal police station.
A senior inspector calmly told reporters: “The family was stubborn while the police performed their duties, and the dead were not guilty.”
The family has controlled Osanmian City since 2001. His daughter is the deputy mayor, and his brothers are either city councillors or provincial councillors. Although Duterte accused them of drug involvement, the judiciary said there was "insufficient evidence."
However, Duterte is reluctant to wait for a lengthy trial, and he has given the family a “blast” — which is why he is popular with the lowly people.
Desperate soil: Why do the Philippines need a “Satanic Saviour”?
To understand Duterte's phenomenon, we must understand the social reality of the Philippines.
According to the data of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration in 2015, 1/5 of towns and villages in the Philippines suffer from drug crimes. In Manila, the capital, drug crimes exist in 92% of the area. According to the 2012 United Nations report, the Philippines has the highest per capita methamphetamine use rate in Southeast Asia.
More seriously, drug trafficking has penetrated into the deep mechanisms of society.On August 7, 2016, Duterte's blacklist of drugs, in addition to the mayor of the city of Ohm, more than 160 people are in the military, political, law and police.
In this environment, talking about human rights and the law is a luxury for ordinary people. When the police and bandits are one family, and the officials and drugs collude, the people at the bottom can only hope for a strong man who dares to "break the rules."
A taxi driver in Manila said to many: “Yes, he killed people, but he killed the bad people and the corrupt.
Duterte ended his presidency in June 2022, but the controversy he left behind is far from over. His daughter Sarah Duterte-Capio inherited the political legacy and was elected vice president, heralding the continuation of the "Duterte era."
On the Philippines, a land devastated by political families and drugs, people are forced to make a cruel choice between “corruption under the rule of law” and “justice under the rule of man.”
His story raises a sharp question: When a country's system is completely rotten, can people only hope for a "devil savior" who uses violence to suppress violence? This question is far more serious than judging whether Duterte himself is an angel or a demon.