The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Song Joong-ki marries British woman, expects baby

  • 3

    Suicidal pedestrian saved over Han River bridge

  • 5

    US four-star general warns of war with China in 2025

  • 7

    Korean Lunar New Year vs. Chinese Lunar New Year

  • 9

    Over 76% of South Koreans support development of nuclear weapons

  • 11

    INTERVIEWBusan has potential to be world-class city, says mayor

  • 13

    Koreans reluctant to unmask on first day of eased indoor mask rule

  • 15

    Samsung to introduce low-carbon diet for employees to help tackle climate change

  • 17

    Base taxi fare to rise by 1,000 won to 4,800 won next month

  • 19

    Stock-leveraged investments rise again amid bullish KOSPI

  • 2

    Japanese teen romance film attracts 1 mil. Korean viewers for 1st time in 21 yrs

  • 4

    Korea to lift indoor mask mandate Monday

  • 6

    Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity'

  • 8

    K-pop releases for February

  • 10

    Youth, foreign drug offenders increase threefold in 5 years

  • 12

    'Someday or One Day' cast says film spin-off has new plot

  • 14

    NK rejects alleged arms trading with Russia, warns of 'undesirable result'

  • 16

    Seoul International School celebrates 50th anniversary

  • 18

    Plum trees, pheasants and promises of old Korea

  • 20

    Main opposition leader faces pressure to resign in case of indictment

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
Tue, January 31, 2023 | 23:09
Times Forum
Duterte: mass murderer in power
Posted : 2018-03-21 15:15
Updated : 2018-03-21 15:15
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Gwynne Dyer

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte once said that Ferdinand Marcos, who was overthrown by the first non-violent revolution ("People Power") in 1986, would have been the Philippines' best president "if he did not become a dictator." Just as Duterte himself had the potential to be the Philippines' best president if he had not become a mass murderer.

He doesn't react well to criticism, either. Last month the International Criminal Court began to investigate a complaint by a Filipino lawyer that the extrajudicial killings in Duterte's anti-drug war (now 8,000 and counting) amount to "crimes against humanity."

He responded by declaring that the Philippines would no longer accept the authority of the world tribunal.

On Sunday he went further, urging other countries to withdraw from ICC too: "Get out, get out, it's rude." Rude? That's a bit rich coming from a man who has called former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, and even the Pope "a son of a whore," but Duterte does not suffer from an excess of self-awareness.

Less than two years into a six-year term, he has already threatened to pull out of the United Nations too. His main mode of speech is stream-of-consciousness, so he doesn't necessarily mean what he says, but you can never be sure.

He is not unintelligent, but the one constant that shapes everything he says and does is his tough-guy persona.

That's what Filipinos love him for (last year he had a 91 percent approval rating), but the problem is that he really is a tough guy _ and not in a good sense.

He graduated from law school and became a prosecutor in his home city of Davao, the biggest city in the southern island of Mindanao. It was then the most violent city in the country, and he set out to tame it.

It is not clear when Duterte decided that a death squad was needed to accomplish that task, but he makes no secret of its existence.

In fact, he boasts about it, and sometimes hints that he did some of the killing himself. He became the mayor of Davao in 1988, and claims that 1,700 suspected criminals were killed on his watch.

Most of them were street kids _ petty thieves and small-time drug dealers _ but it did work, after a fashion: Davao is now reputed to be the safest city in the country. And it was his promise to do the same thing country-wide that won him the presidency in 2016 with 39 percent of the vote, almost twice as many votes as the nearest runner-up among the five candidates.

It would have made more sense if the Philippines was an ultra-violent country overrun by crime and drugs, but it isn't. It is a profoundly unequal country whose politics has been dominated by a privileged and largely hereditary elite, but neither the crime rate nor drug usage is significantly higher than in other southeast Asian countries.

Amphetamine use (the Filpino drug of choice) is around the same level as in the United States or Australia, and opioids and cocaine are virtually absent in the country.

The murder rate is around the same level as the United States: four per 100,000 people in 2015, six per 100,000 in 2016 (due to Duterte's killing spree).

In less than two years in office, Duterte has presided over the extrajudicial murders of some 8,000 people, most of them drug-users who do little harm except to themselves. It is a classic displacement activity: the real problems are corrupt politicians and police and income disparities so huge that a quarter of the population lives in absolute poverty, but it's much easier to wage a war on drugs and crime.

Displacement tactics are quite common in politics (like Donald Trump promising to bring back millions of lost American jobs from foreign countries when most of them were really destroyed by automation).

But the pity of it is that Rodrigo Duterte, for all his bombast and vainglory, had other qualities that would have been very useful in the presidency.

He is an honest man, as Filipino politicians go, and he has a real empathy with the poor. During the Marcos dictatorship he protected opposition protesters in Davao, and he is gay- and Muslim-friendly in a country that has little tolerance for either.

He calls himself a "socialist," but the city of Davao achieved the highest economic growth rate in the country under his mayorship.

Alas, Duterte is also a mass murderer (he has said he will sign a pardon for himself "for the crime of multiple murder" before he leaves office.)

He has become addicted to the cheap popularity he gets from saying and doing shocking things, and lacks the discipline to work on the country's real problems.

Duterte is a disaster for the Philippines, but that's probably where the damage ends. And although he occasionally talks about abolishing the Congress and leading a self-appointed "revolutionary government," he is unlikely to be able to carry it off, because by then he won't be popular any more. The Philippines will not prosper under his rule.


Gwynne Dyer (gwynne763121476@aol.com) has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He is the author of "Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats."


 
Top 10 Stories
1Korean Lunar New Year vs. Chinese Lunar New Year Korean Lunar New Year vs. Chinese Lunar New Year
2Over 76% of South Koreans support development of nuclear weapons Over 76% of South Koreans support development of nuclear weapons
3Koreans reluctant to unmask on first day of eased indoor mask rule Koreans reluctant to unmask on first day of eased indoor mask rule
4Stock-leveraged investments rise again amid bullish KOSPI Stock-leveraged investments rise again amid bullish KOSPI
5[ANALYSIS] Pandemic awakens demand for data-driven automation ANALYSISPandemic awakens demand for data-driven automation
6SPC opens 120th Paris Baguette store in US SPC opens 120th Paris Baguette store in US
7Busan seeks to take lead in expo race after BIE's April visit Busan seeks to take lead in expo race after BIE's April visit
8Retailers seek to bolster beauty product sales as lifting of mask mandate approaches Retailers seek to bolster beauty product sales as lifting of mask mandate approaches
9Biohealth geared for growth Biohealth geared for growth
10NK slams NATO chief's Seoul visit as 'prelude to war' NK slams NATO chief's Seoul visit as 'prelude to war'
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Song Joong-ki marries British woman, expects baby Song Joong-ki marries British woman, expects baby
2Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity' Kim Jung-hyun returns to small screen with 'Kokdu: Season of Deity'
3K-pop releases for February K-pop releases for February
4'Someday or One Day' cast says film spin-off has new plot 'Someday or One Day' cast says film spin-off has new plot
5Itaewon music fest brings love to the healing process Itaewon music fest brings love to the healing process
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group