A look at the 1st 100

days of Dutertes
phenomenal rule
Associated Press / 03:14 PM October 08, 2016

In this Tuesday Oct.4, 2016 photo, Philippine President Rodrigo

Duterte addresses army troopers during his visit to its headquarters
in suburban Taguig city east of Manila, Philippines. In just 100 days in
office, President Duterte has stirred a hornets nest by picking a fight
with Barack Obama, the United Nations, the European Union and
others who have criticized his brutal crackdown against drugs that
has left more than 3,600 suspects dead. In another defining aspect of
his unorthodox rule, the 71-year-old Duterte has pushed back his

countrys 65-year treaty alliance with the United States while

reaching out to China and Russia. AP Photo
In just 100 days in office, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has
stirred a hornets nest by picking a fight with Barack Obama, the
United Nations, the European Union and others who have criticized
his brutal crackdown against drugs that has left more than 3,600
suspects dead.
In another defining aspect of his unorthodox rule, the 71-year-old
Duterte has pushed back his countrys 65-year treaty alliance with
the United States while reaching out to China and Russia.
A look at the highlights of the first 100 days of Dutertes phenomenal
presidency.
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ANTI-DRUG WAR
Dutertes obsessive focus on his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs, a
hallmark of his three-decade political career, has single-handedly
defined his early days in the presidency. It has become his boon and
bane and earned widespread condemnations when he compared it to
the Holocaust under Hitler. A rough estimate puts the death toll at
about 3,600, including more than 1,300 suspects killed in gunbattles
with police an average of 36 killings a day since he took office on
June 30.
The scale of the crackdown has been unprecedented, with the police
launching more than 23,500 raids so far and arresting 22,500
suspected drug dealers and addicts. More than 1.6 million houses of
drug suspects have been visited by police to invite them to surrender
and stop using drugs or disengage from the drug trade. About
732,000 addicts and dealers have surrendered, apparently for fear of
being killed, overwhelming Duterte and the national police and

prompting them to scramble for land and money to build

rehabilitation centers.
Dutertes public threats to kill criminals, especially drug dealers, have
helped considerably reduce the crime rate, according to police. A poll
by the independent Social Weather Stations last month showed 84
percent of adult Filipinos are satisfied with his war on drugs, but 94
percent felt its important for police to arrest suspects alive,
underscoring public worry over the growing body count even in a
crime- and insurgency-plagued country long accustomed to deadly
violence.
READ: SWS: Dutertes war on drugs earns excellent rating
Western governments led by the U.S., the EU, the U.N. and human
rights watchdogs are alarmed. Amnesty International says Dutertes
first 100 days as president have been marked by state-sanctioned
violence on a truly shocking scale.
Uncertainty over the killings, Dutertes SOB-laced verbal assaults on
Barack Obama, U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-moon and other critics,
along with flip-flopping government pronouncements, have been
partly blamed for foreign selling in the stock market and the pesos
plunge to a seven-year low.
___
FRAYING U.S. ALLIANCE
An emerging casualty under the Duterte presidency is the countrys
65-year treaty alliance with the United States, which has been a
constant target of his foul tongue. He has had a falling out with
President Barack Obama, who along with the State Department
raised concerns over the widespread drug killings, earning Dutertes
wrath. In a speech this week, he told Obama to go to hell.
While critical of the U.S., Duterte has reached out to China and
Russia.

READ: On his first 100 days, Duterte dares US: Go ahead,

oust me
Labeling himself as leftist, Duterte wants U.S. counterterrorism forces
to leave his countrys south, saying their presence was helping
inflame restiveness among minority Muslims and they could be
targeted by extremists. He ordered the military not to join the U.S.
Navy in planned joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea and
said that an ongoing combat drill by U.S. Marines and their local
counterparts, one of 28 joint exercises by the allies each year, would
be the last in his six years as president.
The U.S. has generally played down the effect of Dutertes remarks
and underscored the Filipinos long affinity with America, although
Philippine officials have said that some of their U.S. counterparts
have privately been concerned about where Washingtons alliance
with the Philippines is headed.
Dutertes moves to limit engagements with visiting American troops
will impede Washingtons plans to expand the footprint of U.S. forces
in Southeast Asia to serve as a counterweight to China, including in
the South China Sea.
___
TAMING DECADESLONG REBELLIONS
Dutertes effort to resume peace talks with communist insurgents
who are waging one of Asias longest rebellions has led to cease-fire
declarations by both sides. With a cease-fire accord forged with the
largest Muslim rebel group under his predecessor, the easing of
violence involving the communist insurgents has freed up thousands
of troops who were redeployed to execute the presidents order to
destroy the brutal Abu Sayyaf group, notorious for kidnapping and
beheading Western tourists.

Duterte, however, walks a tightrope in handing concessions to the

communists, including the release of long-detained insurgent leaders,
without unsettling a military thats in the front line of a bloody conflict
that has left between 30,000 to 40,000 combatants and civilians
dead in nearly half a century. The president has made whirlwind visits
to at least 22 military and police camps to explain his
counterinsurgency strategy, raffle off pistols and update them on a
pledge to double their salaries and improve medical care for combat
troops.
READ: EU envoy hails Dutertes peace process on admins
first 100 days
A Sept. 2 bomb attack that killed 15 people at a night market in his
southern hometown of Davao prompted him to declare a state of
lawlessness to empower the government to harness troops in
countering militant threats in urban areas. The attack was a reality
check on the complexity of fighting the restiveness Duterte blames
on atrocities against local Muslims by American colonial forces
around the early 1900s.

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