While the United States and Europe has been contending with what their country might look like if a far-right leader were thrust into power by populism and civil unrest, The Philippines is already looking at the reality.
President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who won last month’s election, has urged the public to join him in cracking down on crime – offering huge bounties for citizens who kill drug dealers.
“If they are there in your neighbourhood, feel free to call us, the police, or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support,” he told followers at a rally.
“If you are involved in drugs, I will kill you. You son of a whore, I will really kill you.”
This isn’t necessarily just empty bluster, either. Duterte was the longtime mayor of Davao City in the country’s south, and his tenure was a chequered one: he was long associated with vigilante gangs who slaughtered drug dealers, drug users and criminals. This resulted in Davao becoming “the safest city in the Philippines” after a long reputation as the country’s murder capital.
During his run for president, Duterte confirmed his association with extrajudicial killings in Davao, and made wild promises that he would kill up to 100,000 criminals if elected.
Now he’s promised citizens a medal if they kill drug dealers. “I will pay, for a drug lord: five million pesos if he is dead. If he is alive, only 4.999 million.”
You can see the Trump connection here. Much of the Philippines is wracked by civil unrest and violence beget by drug trafficking, and Duterte’s blunt speech and take-no-prisoners attitude – which earned him the title of The Punisher – clearly resonates with large sections of the electorate.
He has, perhaps expectedly, dismissed the concerns of human rights groups and activists over the implications of rewarding killings.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: Getty Images.
