While the United States was engrossed in their own tumultuous presidential election in 2016, the Philippine presidential election shared many striking similarities in both the campaign trail and the election results.
The winner of the Philippine presidential election, Rodrigo Duterte, has been likened to President Trump in mannerism and charisma.
Both Trump and Duterte used their “outsider” persona as a campaign tactic during the election.
Trump championed to “drain the swamp,” and pointed to his status as a successful businessman to stand in for his lack of political experience.
Duterte, although a politician, distanced himself from the ruling elite. Duterte drew his credibility from cleaning up crime in Davao, a city where he was mayor of an island grouping called Mindanao. Prior to Duterte assuming his position as mayor in 1988, Davao was the undisputed murder capital of the Philippines.
A population of 750,000 at that time, the average murder rate would be 122 murders per 100,000 compared to Davao’s current record of 10.56 per 100,000.
He managed to decrease crime by ex-judicial killings of suspected criminals, a fact that he freely campaigns.
“Forget the laws on human rights,” Duterte said during a campaign speech.
“If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because I’d kill you. I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay and fatten all the fish there.”
Both Trump and Duterte made offensive comments regarding women and their respective treatment of women. During the 2016 campaign, a series of tape recordings that depict Trump making lewd comments about women emerged. The recordings come from a 2005 conversation between Trump and Billy Bush, then of “Access Hollywood.”
“You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them,” Trump said. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
Although issuing an apology after recieving backlash, Trump still continued to make degrading remarks about women and his opponent, Carly Fiorina.
“Look at that face!” Trump said. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine, the face of our next president?”
Duterte, a self proclaimed “womanizer,” spoke about his wish to join in on the rape of a 36-year-old Australian missionary, Jacqueline Hammill, during a prison assault in Davao City in 1989.
“When the body was taken out, it was already wrapped,” Duterte said. “ I looked at her face… I said: ‘F**k, what a waste’. What went through my head was that they raped her. That everyone had lined up to rape her. I got angry. That she was raped? Yes, that too. But it was that she was so beautiful – the mayor should have been first. What a waste.”
Besides their status as political outsiders and their offensive behaviors, there is no real comparison between Trump and Duterte.
In regards to the comparisons made between Trump and Duterte, Duterte responds with, “He is a bigot and I am not.”
President Trump is a man of words, articulate or not, and unfulfilled promises. He failed to introduce any meaningful legislation that wasn’t made through an executive order, Obamacare was not repealed, and even his so-called “ban” on transgender service people has been frozen.
According to a Gallup Poll, his term average is 39 percent, far below the historical average of 54 percent.
Duterte, on the other hand, is a far more dangerous man, both to his people and the future of the Philippines.
With an approval rating of 86 percent, according to Pulse Asia Surveys, Duterte has his nation’s support in the ex-judicial killings of thousands of alleged drug dealers and law-breakers.
“Hitler massacred three million Jews,” Duterte said. “Now there are three million drug addicts … I’d be happy to slaughter them.”
With over 1,900 recorded deaths, and promises of more to come, Duterte’s goal to protect the Republic and to “clean up” the Philippines has been reprimanded by the the United Nations due to his human rights violations, but no direct action has been taken by them.
The greatest difference between Trump and Duterte is Duterte’s ability to get away with murder. With the global spotlight on America and its government, smaller nations headed by genocidal leaders like Duterte are able to get away with much more than Trump would ever be capable of.
James Cantu
Opinion Editor