Top 10 Facts about Rodrigo Durtete

Rodrigo Durtete. Photo by PCOO EDP. Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Facts about Rodrigo Durtete

Rodrigo Roa Duterte is a Filipino politician and lawyer who served as the Philippines’ 16th president from 2016 to 2022. During his presidency, he was the chairperson of the PDP-Laban, the Philippines’ ruling political party. Duterte was Philippines’ first Mindanao president and the country’s oldest president.

Duterte’s political positions have been described as populist and nationalist. His political success has been aided by his outspoken support for the extrajudicial execution of drug users and other criminals. His career sparked numerous protests and controversy, especially regarding human rights issues, and his controversial comments only made things worse. Duterte has repeatedly stated that he personally killed criminal suspects while serving as mayor of Davao. 

Human-rights organizations and the Office of the Ombudsman have also investigated extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by the Davao Death Squad between 1998 and 2016 during Duterte’s mayoralty. The majority of the victims were alleged drug users, petty criminals, and street children.  In 2018, the International Criminal Court launched a preliminary investigation into Duterte’s drug war. 

1. He was elected mayor of Davao City in 1988

President Corazon Aquino appointed Duterte as officer-in-charge vice mayor following the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled President Ferdinand Marcos’ regime.  He ran for mayor as an independent in 1988 and won, serving until 1998.

He established a precedent by naming deputy mayors to represent administrative districts, as well as the Lumad and Moro peoples, in city government. This was later replicated by other cities throughout the Philippines.

2. Rodrigo Duterte was elected as the Philippines’ 16th president in 2016

Office of the President of the Philippines. Photo by Patrick Roque. Wikimedia Commons

On May 30, 2016, the 16th Congress of the Philippines proclaimed Duterte as the President-elect of the Philippines after he received 16,601,997 votes, 6.6 million more than his closest rival, Mar Roxas, in the 2016 presidential election.

Leni Robredo, a Camarines Sur representative, was declared the Philippines’ vice president-elect with 14,418,817 votes, narrowly defeating Senator Bongbong Marcos by 263,473 votes. 

3. Gary Alejano attempted to impeach Duterte

Gary Alejano. Photo by Quinones052017. Wikimedia Commons

Alejano filed a supplemental complaint on March 30 against Duterte for alleged inaction and “defeatist stance” in the West Philippine Sea, Panatag Shoal, and Benham Rise. After Alejano stated that he had no personal knowledge of the alleged offences and had based his impeachment complaint on news reports and witness testimony, the House Justice Committee unanimously dismissed the charge on May 15 due to insufficient evidence.

4. Duterte launched a nationwide anti-drug campaign

Following his election, Duterte launched a nationwide anti-drug campaign, urging Filipinos to join the fight against illegal drugs, including the New People’s Army.  Duterte campaigned on eliminating illegal drugs in the country within three to six months. He later admitted he underestimated the severity of the drug problem after taking office because he modelled his approach after that of Davao City during his tenure as mayor.

He cited the difficulty of border control against illegal drugs as a result of the country’s long coastline, and he bemoaned the fact that government officials and law enforcement officers were themselves involved in the drug trade.

In 2022, Duterte urged his successor, Bongbong Marcos, who won the Philippine presidential election in 2022, to carry on the drug war in “his own way” in order to protect the youth. Marcos stated his intention to continue the anti-drug campaign, emphasizing prevention and rehabilitation.

5. Duterte has been linked to extrajudicial killings

President Rodrigo Duterte addresses the Filipino community in Indonesia. Photo by Presidential Communications Operations Office. Wikimedia Commons

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have linked Duterte to the extrajudicial killings of over 1,400 alleged criminals and street children by vigilante death squads. The UN report in April 2009 stated, “The Mayor of Davao City has done nothing to prevent these killings, and his public comments suggest that he is, in fact, supportive.”   Duterte denied any involvement in the extrajudicial killings.

6. He is an advocate for LGBT rights

LGBT flag. Photo by Stavrialena Gontzou. Unsplash

Despite his use of derogatory terms like queer in public, Duterte has consistently condemned discrimination against the LGBT community in the Philippines. He has stated that if elected President, he would consider legalizing same-sex marriage and supports LGBT military service. He once said on a Philippine talk show that he wouldn’t mind if his son came out as gay, and that “everyone deserves to be happy.”

7. Durtete was sexually abused by a priest

Duterte has claimed that a priest sexually abused him when he was a minor.  After the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines officials challenged him to name the priest and file a case against him, Duterte revealed the priest’s name as Mark Falvey (d. 1975).

According to press reports in the United States, the Jesuits of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines confirmed that in May 2007, the Society of Jesus agreed to a tentative payout of US$16 million to settle claims that Falvey sexually abused at least nine children in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1975.

When asked why he did not report the alleged abuse, Duterte stated that he was too young to report the priest’s abuse and was intimidated by authorities at the time. He also stated that he never disclosed that information after being expelled and transferred to a different high school, particularly to his family.

8. He was not permitted to march in the school’s graduation ceremony

Graduates at a graduation ceremony. Photo by Joshua Hoehne. Unsplash

During a rally in April 2016, Duterte claimed that he shot a fellow student who had bullied him because of his Visayan origin, as well as other students of the same ethnicity, while attending San Beda Law College.

However, in an interview broadcast on 24 Oras and published on the official GMA News Online website on April 22, 2016, retired labour arbitrator Arthur Amansec stated that Duterte and Octavio Goco were both playing with guns at the time because it was common for students to bring guns to school in the 1970s. Amansec is a former San Beda College classmate who witnessed the incident. He went on to say that “the bullet hit the school’s wooden floor and became embedded there.” 

GMA News discovered that Duterte graduated from San Beda’s College of Law in 1972 and was not expelled. However, an official confirmed that he was not permitted to march in the graduation ceremony due to an incident involving a gun.

9. Rodrigo Duterte sexually abused his maid

Duterte’s comments about women, including rape jokes and boasting about adultery, frequently cause outrage. Duterte recounted a confession he had with a priest in high school, detailing how he had entered his maid’s room while she was sleeping.“I raised the blanket. I tried to touch what was inside the panty,” Duterte said in a speech. “I was moved. She awoke. As a result, I left the room.”

Duterte told the priest that he then went back to the maid’s room and tried to molest her again.

On March 16, 2017, Gary Alejano, an opposition politician, filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte. He citied thousands of deaths in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, alleged leadership of vigilante group Davao Death Squad, and allegations of graft and corruption.

10. Duterte reformed the country’s tax system

Peso, Money, Currency, Philippines. Photo by florantevaldez. Pixabay

Duterte reformed the country’s tax system in an effort to make it more equitable, simpler, and efficient. In December 2017, he signed the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN Act), which exempts those with annual taxable incomes of $250,000 or less from paying personal income tax while increasing excise taxes on vehicles, sugar-sweetened beverages, petroleum products, tobacco, and other non-essential goods. The TRAIN law’s revenues helps fund the administration’s massive infrastructure program. 

To attract more investments and maintain fiscal stability, Duterte signed the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act in March 2021, lowering the corporate income tax rate from 30% to 25% for firms with assets over $100 million and 20% for smaller firms.

To fund the Universal Health Care Act and reduce the incidence of deaths and diseases associated with smoking and alcohol consumption, Duterte increased sin taxes on tobacco and vape products in July 2019, and on alcoholic beverages and electronic cigarettes in January 2020.