Rodrigo Duterte: Philippines President likens himself to Hitler

Rodrigo Duterte: Shoot a drug dealer, get a medal

6 June

The president-elect of the Philippines has urged the public to join his anti-crime crusade, offering huge bounties to citizens who turn in drug dealers, dead or alive.

"I will pay five million pesos [£75,000] for a drug lord if he is dead," Rodrigo Duterte said in a televised speech. "If he is alive, only 4.999 million.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"If he fights and fights to the death, you can kill him. I will give you a medal."

Duterte, who has been nicknamed "the Donald Trump of the east", also offered smaller bounties for lower-level dealers and assured citizens they had his backing in using lethal force.

"If they are there in your neighbourhood, feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun," he said. "You have my support."

Others have followed his lead, according ABC News, with Tomas Osmena, the elected mayor of the central city of Cebu, paying more than $3,000 to police officers for killing drug traffickers.

Duterte won the presidential race on a controversial platform of law and order, promising to rid his country of crime and corruption within six months of taking office.

However, he is accused of involvement in a string of violent incidents during his two decades as mayor of Davao.

"Duterte has been suspected of playing a role in many killings of suspected criminals by motorcycle-riding assassins dubbed the 'Davao death squads'," says The Guardian. "Human rights watchdogs say he has not been criminally charged because nobody has dared to testify against him in court."

Rodrigo Duterte: Philippines elects the 'Trump of the East'

10 May

A tough-talking mayor known as "The Punisher" is poised to be the next president of the Philippines, after his main rival conceded defeat in yesterday's election.

Rodrigo Duterte has been described as the "Donald Trump of the East" after he spoke in favour of death squads, called the Pope a "son of a bitch" and admitted live on TV that he had personally killed people.

However, promises to kill criminals, clamp down on the drug trade and end corruption within six months have made him immensely popular.

Duterte's pledge to kill five criminals every week "may not be an idle promise", says the Daily Beast. Extrajudicial death squads have reportedly killed more than a thousand people during his time as mayor of Davao City.

"If I make it to the presidential palace, you drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because… I'd kill you," he warned.

During the campaign, the politician has peppered his speeches with boasts about his Viagra-fuelled sexual prowess and jokes about rape, but has "successfully tapped into widespread discontent", says CBS News.

Voters have been particularly drawn to his promise to tackle corruption "in a country that has experienced six per cent economic growth on average while residents of slums still struggle to buy food", says The Guardian.

"Many are frustrated with the political status quo in which a small clique governs the country," adds the newspaper.

Casting himself as the ultimate anti-establishment figure, Duterte has threatened to close down Congress and form a revolutionary government if legislators stonewall his reforms.

With China pressing its claims in the region and the US military increasing its presence in its former colony, "the vote will have global implications", says the Washington Post, "which is why Duterte has people talking".