The numbers are staggering, if not numbing. In the 100 days since Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in as president of the Philippines, about 3,500 suspects have been killed by police and unknown assailants as part of his war on drugs. About 22,000 have been arrested and 730,000 have voluntarily surrendered.
Local and international critics have responded with dismay and shock. "We have a group of serial killers and mass murderers right within the ranks of the organisation which is supposed to protect and serve the people," said Philippine senator Leila de Lima, Duterte's staunchest critic. A recent editorial by The Economist scolded: "Extrajudicial violence resolves nothing and makes everything worse. The rule of law will erode."
Yet Duterte, with his vow to eradicate crime within his first six months in office, remains popular with the public. In the most recent nationwide poll conducted by Pulse Asia Research, his trust rating was an astonishing 91 per cent. His soaring popularity can be attributed to the public’s distrust of existing state institutions, such as the judiciary, brought about by disappointment at the failure of previous leaders to eliminate criminality and poverty.
No wonder the 71-year-old tough-talker has become even more brazen when dealing with his critics. In an effort to quiet down de Lima, Duterte unabashedly accused her of adultery. De Lima was then stripped of her post as chair of the Senate Justice Committee, which had been investigating Duterte’s connections to hitmen. “If I were de Lima, ladies and gentlemen, I’ll hang myself,” Duterte said.
Responding to condemnation from the United Nations and the European Union, Duterte threatened to leave the UN and form a separate organisation with China and African nations. He called the EU’s advisers “pea-brained” and Barack Obama a “son of a whore”, threatening to sever military ties with the United States – the Philippines’s biggest defence ally.
“I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody,” he said in a speech. Last week, he brutally compared his war on drugs to the Holocaust: “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
Estrellita Calderon, a 49-year-old public school teacher in Manila, says she’s surprised by the outrage against Duterte. “Didn’t he promise a cleansing? Didn’t he say it will be bloody?” said Calderon, who voted for Duterte during the May 10 elections, which he won by a landslide, garnering 40 per cent of the votes against four opponents.
Echoing a sentiment I’ve heard from many Filipinos, Calderon says that thanks to Duterte’s prioritisation of law and order, she has “never felt this safe in my life”. “I used to be scared walking on the streets at night, but not anymore.”
According to data from the Philippine National Police, crime has dropped by about 49 per cent compared to this time last year.
Indeed, Duterte’s off-the-cuff outbursts have overshadowed whatever good his government has done. Three weeks into assuming his post, he signed an executive order establishing the country’s first freedom of information law, encouraging transparency in government offices. The law has been sitting in congress since 1987, to no avail.
Aside from restoring national order, Duterte’s first policies have focused on welfare, education, agriculture and security, with efforts such as launching a centralised, nationwide 24-hour complaint hotline; improving the country’s disaster risk-reduction management, after the previous administration’s inadequate response during Typhoon Haiyan in 2013; negotiating peace treaties with rebel groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines; suspending mining operations across the country to halt environmental damage; elimination of red tape in government agencies; and jacking up spending for infrastructure projects such as railway lines, airports and highways to make up for what Duterte calls “years of neglect”.
While the economy is poised to benefit from his government’s increased spending, the Philippine peso plunged to a seven-year low last week, with critics blaming Duterte’s constant expletive-laden remarks for triggering an exodus in investors. But as a Bloomberg article pointed out, the Philippines currently has the fastest-growing economy in the world. “Currency strategists predict a rebound once investors see beyond Duterte’s words,” the article argued.
Therein lies the rub: will the rest of the world ever get used to the brash behaviour? Crucially, will Duterte ever be able to help himself? His trash-talking aside, his violent anti-drug campaign should invoke more indignation from his countrymen. Because while the streets may seem safer, the bodies – several of them likely innocent – are piling behind the scenes. They should let their president know that the eradication of crime will never be worth the price of a dead body, let alone 3,500.
“This is what we asked for, so I don’t understand those who complain,” said Emerson Sy-Chen, a 25-year-old nurse in the southern city of Davao, where Duterte was mayor for 22 years – the city he made safer through the crime-fighting Davao Death Squad. “We need a complete do-over. He’s the only one who can move us forward, so just shut up and let him do his job.”
A former arts&life editor at The National, James Gabrillo is studying cultural spectacle in the Philippines at the University of Cambridge.
