Rodrigo Duterte
Rodrigo is 73 years old Philippine politician and current President of the Philippines. He was born on 28th March, 1945 in Maasin, Philippines to Vicente G. Duterte and Soledad Duterte. His father was engaged in politics and served as provincial governor of Davao province whereas mother was a school teacher also serving as a civic leader. He completed his education from Laboon Elementary School, Santa Ana Elementary School and later moved to Lyceum of the Philippines getting his degree in Bachelor of Arts. He also did law degree from San Beda College of Law and then made his mind to go for politics by running for mayor position in 1988. He got re-elected for the same post twice for almost subsequent decades. He also served as vice mayor in 2010 and was well known for his harsh crime-fighting tactics finally resulting for claim of more than 1,000 extrajudicial killings by death squads. He openly supported his methods for “war on drugs” and their results.
Roman Catholic and Human Rights organizations were officially against such bloodshed but he gave his consent on corruption and child abuse matter by the church. Even western governments put forth their views that were negotiated by Duterte as matter of double talk and he moved in to strengthen the ties with China and Russia for arms deal. He strengthened his martial law covering the whole island to safe out the people from the attack of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS).
Few months before, he had a slim chance of even remaining in the tight presidential race but economic dissatisfaction, rising crime rates and popular frustration catapulted his fringe candidacy to victory. His work has given the country the world’s fastest growth rates. He as a mayor of Davao City took a tough stance on crime and has turned the wayward municipality into one of the nation’s safest cities. In end, we can say Duterte is a realist in the realm of foreign policy and also made an outstanding contribution to turn over the image of country by making a stock market hit with nine months high.
What is his image in public?
People mostly call him by his nicknames “protector” or “saviour” in his hometown but the popularity not just stops here. He was compared with Donald Trump for his working rhetoric style and again offered the title of “man of the people” on his presidential win in 2016. His image also received criticism from world platform for his stance against Human Rights. Aside from this, he summed up his practices as a measure of his success in war against drugs.
On his personal life
Duterte got married to a flight attendant, Elizabeth Abellana Zimmerman and became father of three; Paola, Sara and Sebastian. He is now eventually involved with his common-law wife Cielito “Honeylet” Avancena after ending his 27 years old marriage life with Zimmerman. He is also having a daughter from Avancena named Veronica Duterte.
His awards
He received the Knight Grand Cross of Rizal for his work in politics.