CHIEF among the traits of Rodrigo Duterte that won him the presidential election in May was his forthright manner of speaking. Yet the meaning of his aggressive, expletive-laden talk was often obscure. What would he really do as president? Filipinos are starting to get a glimpse.
In one respect—his promise to give the police a free hand to kill criminals, notably suspected drug traffickers—the man sometimes known as “Duterte Harry” seems to have been taken at his word even before his inauguration on June 30th. In the first six weeks after the election, the cops shot dead suspected drug traffickers at the rate of nine a week, over four times the rate in the preceding four months. A day after being sworn in, Mr Duterte reassured officers paraded in front of him that they had the right to kill suspects who threatened their lives in resisting arrest. “Do your duty—and if, in the process, you kill 1,000 persons because you were doing your duty—I will protect you,” he said. He later took aim at their bosses, accusing five serving and former police generals of being “protectors” of drugs gangs (they deny the claim).
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