Filipinos favour ‘Duterte Harry’
Tough-talking outsider seen as Donald Trump of Philippines presidential race
THE crime-fighting Philippine mayor who has emerged as surprise front runner in presidential elections has said that he would kill his own children if he discovered they were taking illegal drugs.
Even before the last presidential debate, there was little doubt about the strongman reputation of Rodrigo Duterte, who has promised mass killing of suspected criminals after supporting vigilante gangs in his home city of Davao.
The mayor, who proudly goes by the nicknames “The Punisher” and “Duterte Harry”, burnished those credentials when he vowed to kill his offspring if they used narcotics.
Duterte, 71, took a commanding lead in the latest opinion polls yesterday, despite facing a backlash for making a joke about raping a murdered Australian missionary.
Duterte sparked revulsion among women’s groups, diplomats and the Catholic Church when he told an audience that, as the local mayor, he should have been at the front of the queue when an Australian missionary was attacked in a 1989 jail riot.
In the predominantly Roman Catholic country, many observers expected his ratings to dip after a video was made public of his offensive joke on the hustings.
To laughter from the crowd, he said that an Australian missionary murdered in a jail riot that he helped end in Davao in 1989 was so beautiful that he wished he had been the first in line to rape her.
After two days of growing condemnation, he apologised for the remark. But he further impressed devoted followers by threatening to sever relations with traditional allies Australia and America after their ambassadors expressed outrage.
In the first survey taken since his latest controversial remark, his support surged six points to 33%, giving him a nine-percentage-point lead over Senator Grace Poe, his closest contender in the five-candidate field.
The womanising mayor, who has been dubbed his country’s “Donald Trump” for his blunt speaking and outsider status, has come under fire from human rights activists for his expression of support for alleged death squads in Davao City.
The crowd favourite has embraced that image, and in the presidential debate he renewed his vow to have criminals killed if he is elected president.
He previously said he would dispose of the bodies of criminals in Manila Bay, so that the “fish will grow fat”.
“The drug pushers, kidnappers, robbers, find them all and arrest them,” he told supporters at a rally.
“If they resist, kill them all. Go ahead and charge me with murder, so I could also kill you.”
Duterte has drawn support for his anti-crime platform and reputation as a “clean” politician in a country plagued by violence, drug use and corruption.
His roots in the populous southern region of Mindanao have also bolstered his campaign amid popular disenchantment with the Manila-based political elite.
Many Filipinos have embraced Duterte for his vulgarity-laced speeches, boasts of sexual conquests and promised war on crime.
Even when he called Pope Francis a “son of a whore” in a speech last year, his followers forgave him.
More than 50 million people are qualified to vote on May 9, when Duterte will face off against candidates including the preferred successor of outgoing president Benigno Aquino.
