BIOGRAPHY OF PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE

Rodrigo Roa Duterte , born March 28, 1945, also known as Digong, Rody and by
the initials DU30 and PRRD is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the
16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson of PDP
Laban, the ruling political party in the Philippines during his presidency. Duterte is the
first president of the Philippines to be from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to
assume office, beginning his term at age 71.

Duterte was elected mayor in 1988, and he was reelected to that post twice
over the subsequent decade. Because of term-limit restrictions, he was barred from
seeking reelection in 1998, but he successfully ran for a seat representing Davao in the
Philippines House of Representatives. Upon the completion of that term in 2001, he
returned to Davao City and was once more elected mayor. Because the term-limit
restriction again came into force in 2010, he was elected vice mayor, and his daughter
Sara served as mayor. In 2013 Duterte returned to the mayor’s office, this time with his
son Paolo (“Pulong”) serving as vice mayor. During his more than two decades as
mayor of Davao City, the controversial politician transformed the city from a haven of
lawlessness into one of the safest areas in Southeast Asia. Duterte’s harsh crime-
fighting tactics earned him the nicknames “the Punisher” and “Duterte Harry” (in
reference to the film character Dirty Harry, the ruthlessly effective police inspector
portrayed by actor Clint Eastwood), but critics such as Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch claimed that Duterte was responsible for more
than 1,000 extrajudicial killings.

Duterte’s position on the contested Spratly Islands arguably the Philippines’

most-pressing foreign policy issue caused consternation among the country’s allies. He
wavered unpredictably between a negotiated settlement with China and a claim that he
would ride a jet ski to one of the disputed islands and plant a Filipino flag on it. On May
9 nearly 80 percent of eligible voters turned out for the election, and Duterte captured
nearly as many votes as his two closest competitors combined. Within days of his
landslide victory, Duterte vowed to reintroduce the death penalty abolished in the
Philippines in 2006 in concert with his promise to “fatten all the fish” in Manila Bay with
the bodies of criminals. In a televised address in June, he endorsed vigilantism by
members of the public, stating that he would personally reward anyone who shot and
killed a drug dealer.