Rodrigo Duterte (28 March 1945-) was President of the Philippines from 30 June 2016 to 30 June 2022, succeeding Benigno Aquino III and preceding Bongbong Marcos. While a member of the democratic socialist PDP-Laban party, Duterte idolized the far-right dictator Ferdinand Marcos and waged a war on drugs through vigilante violence and by declaring a state of lawlessness in the islands, killing thousands of suspected drug dealers and addicts.
Biography[]
Rodrigo Duterte was born on 28 March 1945 in Maasin, Leyte, Philippines to a political family of Visayan descent. He was expelled from a few schools for misconduct, and he was not allowed to join the graduation rites at his law school for shooting a student who racially insulted Visayans. In 1989, he became Vice-Mayor of Davao City after the People Power Revolution, and in 2010 his daughter Sara Duterte became Mayor of Davao. Three years later, Rodrigo himself became mayor, and he passed and strictly enforced several laws, such as the banning of drinking alcohol from 1 to 8 AM, reducing speed limits, passing anti-smoking ordinance, banning firecrackers, establishing CCTVs in malls and shopping centers, and upholding women's rights. In 2016, he ran for President as the socialist PDP-Laban candidate, but his candidacy was tainted by his support of the Davao death squads (vigilantes that killed around 1,040 people from 1998 to 2008) and his joking about rape in his city, saying that he should have been the first to rape a murdered Australian woman. Duterte's Donald Trump-like reputation for harsh comments and bad humor led to him having a similar level of controversy, with the Communist Party of the Philippines (leaders of the New People's Army) supporting his bid while Senator Antonio Trillanes threatened a coup d'etat against him if he was elected. He was elected President with 38.5% of the vote despite these threats, and he stated that he would reimpose capital punishment and use live ammunition against suspected criminals. As President, he launched a massive infrastructure plan, initiated liberal economic reforms, streamlined government processes, proposed an ultimately unsuccessful shift to a federal system of government, intensified efforts against Islamist and communist terrorists, oversaw the controversial burial of Ferdinand Marcos, and shifted the Philippines towards China and Russia and away from the United States. His right-wing populist policies, his violation of human rights during his drug war, and his imprisonment of political opponents like Maria Ressa and Leila de Lima. On 11 March 2025, after leaving office, he was arrested by Interpol for crimes against humanity perpetrated during the drug war.