[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 6




PHILIPPINES:

Rodrigo Duterte, the Filipino Donald Trump, favoured to win presidential 
race----Former mayor of Davao has garnered broad support with tough talk and 
anti-crime agenda


Rodrigo Duterte's straight-talking - if foul-mouthed - manner and 
tough-on-crime policies have earned him comparisons with Donald Trump. The 
former mayor of Davao is leading in the polls and could win Monday's general 
election in the Philippines.

The Philippines may be heading into a new era of strong-man rule if its general 
election Monday produces a win for presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, who 
has been dubbed the Filipino Donald Trump and earned an international 
reputation for his foul language and outrageous comments.

The 71-year-old is known for his unfiltered speeches, which have included 
insults against women and the Pope, whom Duterte called a "son of a whore" for 
holding up traffic in Manila on a recent visit.

He is a former state prosecutor, and his tough-on-crime position is so tough 
that he has been accused of running death squads in the southern city of Davao, 
where he has been mayor for over 20 years.

The squads are thought to be a kind of vigilante group that takes justice into 
its own hands and has killed more than 1,000 people, according to Human Rights 
Watch.

Instead of the death squads being a problem for Duterte, however, "they are a 
political platform," wrote Phelim Kine, the deputy director of HRW's Asia 
division, in an article last summer.

Duterte's supporters see him as the people's candidate. Popular news website 
Rappler has said he represents a politics of the extreme and 'voices the 
helplessness and rage of Filipinos.'

Duterte is from the conflict-ridden southern region of Mindanao, where two 
Canadians were taken hostage by the radical Muslim group Abu Sayyaf last 
September.

One of them, John Ridsdel, was executed last week. Duterte reacted by saying 
that beheadings must stop.

"It's too early to comment. I'm not yet the president of the Philippines. But 
this has to stop," he told Inquirer.net, the website of the Philippine Daily 
Inquirer newspaper and several other publications.

'Kill them all'

Duterte insists his city is an oasis of law and order in a troubled region.

But his critics say, at what cost?

\ "Am I the death squad? True. That is true," said Duterte last year while 
discussing his time as mayor.

"Duterte built a reputation on making Davao City one of the safest cities in 
the Philippines," said Marc Singer, a director at Pacific Strategies and 
Assessments, a risk consultancy based in Manila.

'Other than his law and order platform, Duterte has had said very little about 
his plans for the country.'- Marc Singer, risk consultant, Pacific Strategies 
and Assessments

"It is true he has made Davao City a safer place for tourism and investment. 
However, according to national police data for 2015, Davao City has the 
4th-highest incidence of crime among cities in the Philippines."

Duterte has said he would hunt down criminals with the help of the military and 
police and if they resisted, he would "kill them all."

He has pledged to revive the death penalty and execute as many as 100,000 
criminals if he becomes president, thus earning him such monikers as Duterte 
Harry, Dirty Harry and The Punisher.

"I say let's kill five criminals every week, so they will be eliminated," media 
quoted him as saying in December.

Short on policy

Singer says that while Duterte's campaign has attracted a lot of noise, it's 
short on substance.

"Other than his law and order platform, Duterte has said very little about his 
plans for the country, but he caters to Filipinos' desire for change," he said.

He's a populist who draws huge crowds, and he's certainly not the establishment 
candidate. That would be Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the ruling party's 
candidate, who is the grandson of the country's first president and has the 
endorsement of the current president, Benigno Aquino.

Philippines Presidential Elections

Duterte was denounced at home and abroad after he made jokes about the rape and 
murder of an Australian missionary.

Like Trump, ?one of the areas that has gotten Duterte in the most hot water is 
the subject of women. Duterte has publicly praised the powers of Viagra, 
admitted to having 2 wives and 2 girlfriends and his comments on women have 
been even more off-colour than Trump's.

In early April, he made international headlines with his comments on the rape 
and murder of an Australian woman who was doing missionary work in a Davao 
prison when she was taken hostage and killed during a prison riot in 1989.MO< 
Duterte described seeing her face as her body was being taken out of the prison 
and noting that she looked "like an American actress, a beautiful one."

Duterte has been less strident than some on the contentious issue of 
territorial claims in the South China Sea. He has said he would rather attempt 
to find a resolution with China before tuning to the U.S. for help asserting 
Filipino claims in the region.

"I was angry because she was raped, that's one thing," he said, "But she was so 
beautiful, the mayor should have been first. What a waste."

When the Australian and American ambassadors to the Philippines complained, 
Duterte responded: "Shut your mouth." He said he would cut ties with their 
countries if he was elected.

1st in the polls

There is another side to Duterte, though. He is a self-described socialist, 
lives in a modest home and has poured city funds into helping kids with cancer. 
Although his image was somewhat tarnished by allegations that came out in the 
final days of the election campaign claiming that he failed to declare $4.5 
million US in income.

One of the big differences between him and Trump is that Duterte is the odds-on 
favourite to win on Monday.

Duterte's closest rival is former interior minister Mar Roxas. He is the 
establishment candidate and comes from Philippine political royalty. His 
grandfather, Manual Roxas, was a prominent politician before and after colonial 
rule and served as the first elected president of the Philippines 
post-independence.

According to recent polls, Duterte has the support of around 33 % of voters, 
more than any other candidate, so he could very well be elected. Around 54 
million Filipinos are eligible to vote in this election, including those who 
work overseas.

Some see his popularity in terms similar to those used when describing Trump's 
surprising rise.

'He voices the helplessness and rage of Filipinos forced to make do in a 
country where corruption is casual and crime is ordinary.'- Rappler news site

?Duterte represents "the politics of the extreme," said a recent polemic on the 
English-language Filipino news site Rappler, which bills itself as a "social 
news network" devoted to community engagement and social change.

"He says screw the bleeding hearts, and to hell with the bureaucracy. He voices 
the helplessness and rage of Filipinos forced to make do in a country where 
corruption is casual and crime is ordinary.

Duterte has appealed to Filipinos fed up with crime and corruption. He has said 
he would crack down on criminals and 'kill them all' if necessary.

"Duterte has their backs, and he says the struggle ends here, today. He goes 
beyond anger, even beyond solutions. ... Duterte offers retribution."

But the piece also offered a warning that echoed some of the hand-wringing that 
has accompanied the more vocal - and at times violent - manifestations of 
Trump's growing support.

"The streets will run red," if Duterte keeps some of the law-and-order promises 
he's made on the campaign trail, it warned.

(source: CBC News)