A foul-mouthed former Philippine president who jailed political rivals, insulted the pope and claims to have hired “death squad” gangsters is running for re-election in his hometown in a desperate bid to strengthen his scandal-hit political dynasty.
Labeled “Asia’s Trump” by some commentators due to his unorthodox leadership style and bombastic rhetoric, Rodrigo Duterte is aiming for a perhaps even more unlikely political comeback than Donald Trump’s seismic return to the White House.
Duterte, 79, wants to return as mayor of Davao City, on the southern island of Mindanao, where he held power for more than two decades before leading the archipelago nation between 2016 and 2022.
His return to politics is about more than a personal quest for power, analysts say – it’s an attempt to shore up support for his family against the Philippines’ other famed political dynasty – the Marcoses, who have an opposing vision for the country, particularly its relationships with the United States and China.
In a political culture dominated by clan-based alliances, the Marcoses and the Dutertes made a vow of unity when Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, ran for vice president alongside Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who died in exile in 1989 after a brutal 21-year reign.
The duo won a landslide victory in 2022, but not even halfway through their term the alliance is disintegrating as Duterte-Carpio faces calls for her impeachment for alleged corruption, which she denies.
The Marcos-Duterte fallout has since descended into public tirades and name-calling – a hallmark of Rodrigo Duterte’s years as a straight-talking, filter-free president.
Richard Heydarian, senior lecturer at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines, says the older Duterte has entered the political maelstrom to bolster his family’s defenses as they fight battles on several fronts.
“The Dutertes are at their most vulnerable moment in almost a decade,” he said.
Death squads and a war on drugs
Duterte soared to power on a promise to replicate on a national scale his anti-crime crackdown in the family’s stronghold of Davao, winning the 2016 presidential election in a landslide.
In the years that followed, more than 6,000 people were killed in his war on drugs, according to police data, though independent monitors believe the number of extrajudicial killings could be much higher.
Many of the victims were young men from impoverished shanty towns, shot by police and rogue gunmen as part of a campaign to target dealers.
The bloodshed prompted an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and a monthslong House of Representatives inquiry, as well as a separate Senate inquiry led by the cousin of the current president.
In a House hearing Wednesday, Duterte declared that he was finally ready to face the ICC, even urging prosecutors to “hurry up” and “start the investigation tomorrow.” In typically combative fashion, however, he also told the 12-hour long hearing that he would kick any ICC investigators who came to the Philippines to face him.
Duterte’s fighting talk comes after the former president made a stark admission to the Senate inquiry last month during his first public appearance in the investigations.
Before an audience of millions watching on television and online, Duterte told lawmakers he hired a “death squad” of gangsters to kill criminals while mayor of Davao City, 600 miles (965 kilometers) from the capital Manila.
“I can make the confession now if you want,” Duterte said. “I had a death squad of seven, but they were not police, they were gangsters.”
But in the same hearing, Duterte distanced himself from claims he directly ordered his national police chiefs to carry out extrajudicial killings during his time as president. He also said he told police officers to “encourage” suspects to fight back, as legal cover for the killings.
Duterte’s attempts to fend off criticism come as his daughter fights calls for her impeachment over claims she misappropriated funds from both the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
Lawmakers in September deferred the approval of budgets to her office as allied political clans at odds with the Dutertes demanded more transparency and accountability over her public spending.