Rodrigo Duterte

Rodrigo Roa Duterte (born 28 March 1945 in Maasin, Leyte) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as President of the Philippines from 30 June 2016 to 30 June 2022. Before the presidency, he was mayor of Davao City for more than two decades, where he built a reputation for tough-on-crime policies and a blunt, often profane public style.

As president, Duterte launched a nationwide "war on drugs" shortly after taking office. Philippine government figures acknowledged several thousand deaths in police anti-drug operations, while human rights groups have estimated total killings, including by unidentified gunmen, to be substantially higher. The campaign drew sustained criticism from the UN Human Rights Council, the European Parliament, and rights organizations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In 2021, the International Criminal Court authorized a formal investigation into alleged crimes against humanity linked to the drug war; Duterte had announced the Philippines' withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2018, which took effect in March 2019. He was taken into ICC custody in March 2025.

In foreign policy, Duterte distanced Manila from its traditional alignment with Washington and pursued closer ties with Beijing and Moscow, despite the July 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in Philippines v. China that rejected most of China's South China Sea claims. He repeatedly threatened to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States, though it ultimately remained in force.

Domestically, his administration oversaw the passage of the 2020 Anti-Terrorism Act, the "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure program, and the shutdown of broadcaster ABS-CBN after Congress denied its franchise renewal. Barred by the constitution from seeking a second presidential term, he was succeeded by Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who ran on a joint ticket with Duterte's daughter Sara Duterte as vice president.