Of all of today’s world leaders — from despots to dictators to dubious third-world strongmen — a few stick out on the world stage, via their ruthlessness, their actions or simply their big mouths. In the latter category, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte can certainly claim one of the more prestigious prizes as his outlandish comments have made the news on numerous occasions, particularly when he’s insulted other world leaders, including the president of the United States.
But despite Duterte’s outrageous behavior, President Trump has now invited the bigmouth boss to meet him at the White House, seemingly giving this controversial figure more prominence and publicity at a time when many analysts say he should be accorded less.
Of course, it helps to understand a bit more about Duterte and his country when considering why an invitation to Washington could provoke so much discussion. According to Duterte and officials allied with him, the Philippines has been plagued by an epidemic of drug sales and drug use which has resulted in an overwhelming number of addicts, street dealers, teenaged prostitutes and other criminals, particularly in the bigger cities of the Philippines.
However, according to the UN, this is simply not true. The global organization says that the prevalence of drug use in the Philippines has historically been lower than the world average.
Despite this, Duterte, who’s a former mayor of Davao City in the Philippines, won the presidency of his country based on explicit promises to kill tens of thousands of known criminals and “eradicate crime” within six months. Even prior to his becoming president, Duterte was known for a law-and-order-style approach to justice — or perhaps to put it more accurately, a “lawlessness”-and-order style.
In one infamous example, when Duterte was the mayor of Davao, a restaurant owner called him to report a tourist violating local antismoking ordinances. Instead of ordering police to deal with the incident, Duterte reportedly showed up at the restaurant himself and forced the tourist at gunpoint to swallow his cigarette butt (whether it was lit at the time is unknown).
Indeed, Duterte is famous for resolving criminal mischief personally. As the former owner of a Harley-Davidson, Duterte says he used to “personally… go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around, and I would just patrol the streets, looking for trouble.”
Some of that trouble appeared in the form of three gunmen who had raped and kidnapped a Chinese girl in 1988. Duterte admitted to killing them personally, saying, “they were committing a crime in my presence, and I was the person in authority under the law… I killed about three of them, because there were three of them. I don’t know how many bullets from my gun went inside their bodies. It happened, and I said, I cannot lie about it.”
Duterte has since admitted these were not the only people he shot. Apparently, when the Filipino leader was in law school, a fellow student was a victim of Duterte’s anti-bullying vengeance. “But the truth is, I’m used to shooting people. When we were about to graduate from San Beda [College of Law], I shot a person,” confessed Duterte, acknowledging that the student survived.
As the mayor of Davao, he was quoted in 2009 as saying, “If you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of my city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of assassination.”
Upon Duterte’s becoming president, the police forces and government of the Philippines have openly declared war on drug dealers, users and officials known to be cooperating with the drug trade.
Since Duterte entered office, roughly 9,000 people have been killed, with 2,717 of those being dispatched via official police operations and the remainder in government-sanctioned vigilante incidents. In many of the cases, bodies are left on the sides of roads with a placard attached noting that the victim was involved in the drug trade.
Of course, because of the extrajudicial nature of these killings, there have been accusations, particularly from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that this isn’t so much a “war on drugs” as much as it is a “war on poverty,” with the poor as many of the victims.
When the UN criticized Duterte for the killings, he threatened to withdraw his country from the UN and form an alternative international body along with China and the nations of Africa. “You now, United Nations, if you can say one bad thing about me, I can give you 10 [about you]. I tell you, you are an inutil [which means “useless” in Filipino street slang],” remarked Duterte at the time.
When told there might be repercussions for his statements, Duterte protested, “What is… repercussions? I don’t give a s*** to them… You do not just go out and give a s***ting statement against a country.”
When presented with the possibility that his nation’s war on criminals might amount to a crime against humanity, Duterte retorted, “Crime against humanity? In the first place, I’d like to be frank with you. Are they humans? What is your definition of a human being?”
On a state visit in Vietnam, Duterte compared his action’s to Hitler’s, saying, “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them.” When organizations such as Amnesty International decried these statements, Duterte declared, “The human rights [defenders] say I kill. If I say: ‘Okay, I’ll stop’. They [drug users] will multiply. When harvest time comes, there will be more of them who will die. Then I will include you among them because you let them multiply.”
To be sure, however, there have been cases where police have admitted to planting evidence and/or weapons, and a certain proportion of cases claim drug-related murders were results of shootouts with officers where the victim’s gun “malfunctioned,” according to official reports. But in many cases, police have been promised and have received bounties for each drug dealer killed, often also receiving payments directly from funeral parlors where some of the bodies were left.
In April 2016, Duterte promised that his presidency would be “a bloody one,” but if necessary, he would issue “a thousand pardons a day” to soldiers and officers accused of human rights violations and would award a presidential pardon to himself excusing mass murder if it were required at the end of his term.
As of September of last year, there had been 2,400 victims of his country’s war, but Duterte insisted that “plenty” remained to be killed. When U.S. President Obama called out Duterte’s remarks in the media, Duterte referred to Obama as a “son of a whore.”
Obama subsequently canceled a planned meeting with the Filipino leader. Duterte responded by blasting him and the European Union, saying, “Mr. Obama, you can go to hell. EU, better choose purgatory. Hell is already full. Why should I be afraid of you?”
Obama was not the only U.S. official to face Duterte’s wrath. Duterte accused former U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg of meddling in the Asian country’s elections, saying, “As you know, I’m fighting with [U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s] ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off.”
Of course, Obama administration officials are far from the only ones Duterte has opened his mouth about, with the unpredictable leader also criticizing journalists, foreign nations and even the Catholic Church. Of the latter, he’s said that the organization is “the most hypocritical institution” whose bishops in his country as well as the Pope were “sons of whores.”
Duterte later wrote a letter of apology to the Vatican, but in August of last year admitted, “It’s good I didn’t join the priesthood, or else now I would be a homosexual.” Previously, as mayor of Davao, Duterte said, “If I listened to the Ten Commandments or to the priests, I would not be able to do anything as mayor.”
While these statements might make one think Duterte has a somewhat checkered reputation in his own country, quite the opposite is true; he enjoys an 81 percent approval rating amongst his nation’s citizens. In addition, approximately 91 percent of regional Asian residents “trust” his administration, surpassing the ratings of five previous Filipino leaders.
In addition to cracking down on drug dealing, Duterte has issued executive orders establishing new regulations on alcohol consumption, anti-smoking, vehicle speed limits and firecracker sales. He’s also been a strong advocate of women’s rights, despite a long history of making chauvinist statements.
On April 29, President Trump accepted Duterte’s invitation to visit the Philippines for the 12th East Asian International Summit where the heads of 18 different nations will gather. In exchange, Trump invited Duterte to the White House, drawing the condemnation of liberals and news organizations alike.
Former U.S. Attorney and noted prosecutor Preet Bharara slammed Trump, tweeting, “On Duterte visit: DJT is still ready to say and do things that leave people, even on his staff, slack-jawed.” But the Trump administration defended the invitation, saying that Duterte could play an influential role in the U.S.’s ongoing diplomatic crisis with North Korea.
To be sure, Duterte is one of the more notorious leaders Trump has had discussions with. But oftentimes, getting things done on a world stage mandates dealing with characters who are less than savory. If nothing else, Trump is a president who understands this implicitly, and his background would suggest he’s usually able to come out of such meetings and negotiations no worse for wear.
