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Rodrigo Duterte Inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte, became the List of presidents of the Philippines, 16th President of the Philippines on June 30, 2016, succeeding Benigno Aquino III. He was the first president from Mindanao, the first president to have worked in all three branches of government, and the oldest to be elected. He won 2016 Philippine presidential election, the election amid growing frustration with post-People Power Revolution, EDSA governance that favored elites over ordinary Filipinos. His tenure ended on June 30, 2022.
Duterte began Philippine Drug War, a crackdown on illegal drugs and corruption in the Philippines, corruption, leading to a reduction in drug proliferation but also causing the deaths of 6,600 people linked to the Illegal drug trade in the Philippines, illegal drug trade as of July 2019. His administration States parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, withdrew the Philippines from the International Criminal Court after the court launched a preliminary examination into alleged crimes against humanity committed during the war on drugs.
Duterte increased infrastructure spending and launched Build! Build! Build!, an ambitious building program. He initiated liberalism, liberal economic reforms, including reforming the Taxation in the Philippines, country's tax system and signing the Ease of Doing Business Act. He also established Freedom of Information Order (Philippines), freedom of information under the executive branch to eliminate corruption and red tape. Additionally, he granted free irrigation to small farmers and liberalized rice imports with the Rice Tariffication Law.
Duterte implemented a campaign against terrorism and signed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, a controversial law strengthening counter-terrorism. He Proclamation No. 216, declared martial law in Mindanao during the five-month Battle of Marawi and extended it for two years, the longest period of martial law in the Philippines since Ferdinand Marcos' Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, 14-year rule. He pursued peace talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) but cancelled them in February 2017 after New Peoples Army (NPA) attacks on soldiers and declared the CPP-NPA a terrorist group. He created task forces National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, to end local communist armed conflict and for the reintegration of former communist rebels, and enacted Bangsamoro Organic Law, a law establishing the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and granting amnesty to former rebels.
Duterte implemented Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, free college education and an Alternative Learning System (Philippines), alternative learning system in state universities and colleges. He also signed the automatic enrollment of all Filipinos in the government's health insurance program and ordered the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, Reproductive Health Law. In Philippine government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic, he initially implemented COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines, strict lockdown measures, causing a 9.5% contraction of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020. However, with the economy gradually reopening and a COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, nationwide vaccination drive, the GDP recovered to 5.6% in 2021.
Duterte sought improved relations with China-Philippines relations, China and Philippines-Russia relations, Russia and reduced dependence on the Philippines-United States relations, United States. He took a pragmatic stance toward China, setting aside the Philippines v. China ruling on South China Sea claims.
Duterte is a polarizing figure, facing criticism and international opposition for his anti-narcotics efforts. Despite this, his domestic approval rating stayed high throughout his presidency.
Duterte, campaigning on a Party platform, platform of fighting Crime in the Philippines, crime, Corruption in the Philippines, corruption, and Illegal drugs in the Philippines, illegal drugs, won the 2016 Philippine presidential elections, 2016 presidential election with votes, defeating Liberal Party (Philippines), Liberal Party leader Mar Roxas by over 6.6 million votes.
On Election day, May 9, 2016, the Congress of the Philippines declared Duterte the winner of the presidential election. Duterte's transition team was organized after he led by a significant margin at the unofficial count by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. The transition team prepared the new presidential residence and cabinet appointments, and held meetings with the Presidency of Benigno Aquino III, outgoing administration.
On June 30, 2016, Bienvenido L. Reyes, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and fraternity brother of Duterte, Inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte, inaugurated Duterte as the List of presidents of the Philippines, sixteenth president of the Philippines in a simple and modest ceremony held in the largest room of Malacañang Palace in Manila. This was the fourth inauguration to be held in Malacañang and the first since the establishment of the Fifth Philippine Republic.
During his first 100 days in office, Duterte issued an Freedom of Information Order (Philippines), executive order on freedom of information and sought to resume peace talks with Communist rebellion in the Philippines, communist insurgents. He also formulated a comprehensive tax-reform plan and led efforts to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Additionally, he sought to streamline government transactions and launched the nationwide 9-1-1 (Philippines), 9–1–1 rescue and 8888 (Philippines), 8888 complaint hotlines. He also established a one-stop service center for overseas Filipino workers and increased the combat and incentive pay of soldiers and police personnel. Internationally, he took actions to limit the number of Visiting forces agreement, visiting US troops in the country and had contact with China and Russia to improve diplomatic relations.
Duterte launched a Philippine Drug War, campaign against illegal drugs resulting in the arrest of 22,000 suspects, surrender of 731,000 people, and deaths of 3,300, half killed by unknown assailants. He criticized international critics, including US President Barack Obama, the US government, the United Nations, and the European Union, who condemned his tactics.
After the 2016 Davao City bombing, September 2 bombing in Davao City killed 14 people, Duterte issued Proclamation No. 55, officially declaring a "State of emergency, state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao".
Duterte, from Mindanao, gained Muslim support in the 2016 election. He argued that the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were not terrorists but Moro people, Moro coalitions fighting for dignity. He blamed Christianity and colonialism, colonial Christianity and the United States for the Moro conflict in Mindanao.
In 2016, Duterte signed an executive order expanding the Bangsamoro Transition Commission from 15 members to 21, with 11 chosen by the MILF and 10 nominated by the government. This commission is responsible for drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is seen as a key part of the Federalism in the Philippines, federalism plan for resolving the Bangsamoro peace process.
Following the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF in 2014, on July 26, 2018, Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which abolished the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and provided the basic structure of government for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Duterte signed an executive order in April 2019 facilitating the Demobilization, decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons; from June 2019 to May 2022, around 19,200 former MILF combatants and 2,100 weapons were decommissioned. At the urging of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Duterte signed a law postponing the 2025 Bangsamoro Parliament election, first parliamentary elections of BARMM from 2022 to 2025.
On May 23, 2017, Battle of Marawi, clashes between Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine security forces and the ISIS-affiliated Maute group, Maute and Abu Sayyaf (ASG) Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist groups occurred in Marawi, leading to the Proclamation No. 216, declaration of martial law across Mindanao. The city was extensively damaged by militant fire and the responding military airstrikes. An Task Force Bangon Marawi, inter-agency task force was established to aid in Rehabilitation of Marawi, the city's rehabilitation, and Marawi was declared liberated from terrorist influence on October 18 following the deaths of leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon.
Citing the need to quell terrorist activities, Congress granted Duterte's requests to extend martial law in Mindanao thrice between 2017 and 2019. Martial law lapsed on January 1, 2020 after Duterte decided not to extend it.
In July 2020, Duterte signed the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 to curb terror threats and acts; critics argued the law relaxes safeguards on human rights and is prone to abuse, while authors and sponsors of the bill compared it to laws of other countries and maintained it would not be used against law-abiding citizens. From 2016-2021, 1,544 ASG members, 971 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters members, and 1,427 Dawlah Islamiyah members were captured, killed, or surrendered.
Duterte, during his presidential campaign, warned the Philippines was at risk of becoming a narco-state and promised to fight the illegal drug trade. After his inauguration, the Philippine National Police (PNP) launched ''Oplan Tokhang'', inviting identified drug suspects to surrender. Duterte identified three Chinese nationals who were alleged drug lords in the Philippines, and Rodrigo Duterte's August 7, 2016, speech, named 150 public officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.
At the height of his anti-drugs campaign, Duterte urged the public and communists to kill drug dealers. Pardons were promised to police who shot drug dealers during anti-drug raids, prompting thousands to surrender. Rehab centers were built to accommodate them. Concerns arose locally and internationally due to the high number of suspects who died during police operations. In August 2016, opposition Senator Leila de Lima launched a Senate probe into the extrajudicial killings, using hitman Edgar Matobato of the alleged vigilante group Davao Death Squad as a witness. Matobato testified Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, was involved in extrajudicial killings in the city; Duterte called the allegation a "lie". The probe was terminated on October 13, 2016 for lack of evidence. De Lima was arrested for her alleged involvement in the New Bilibid Prison drug trafficking scandal, New Bilibid Prison illegal drug trade.
In March 2017, Duterte created the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs, led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, to tackle drug crime. Later that year, a lawyer filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Duterte and 11 officials for crimes against humanity.
In October 2017, due to public outrage over alleged police abuse in the continuing crackdown, Duterte prohibited the PNP from joining anti-drug raids and designated the PDEA as the "sole agency" in charge of the war on drugs. The PNP launched a Drug rehabilitation, recovery and wellness program for drug dependents in the same month. The PNP was allowed to rejoin the campaign in December 2017 with the PDEA still as the lead agency. In October 2018, Duterte signed an executive order institutionalizing the Philippine Anti-Illegal Drugs Strategy, allowing all government departments, State Universities and Colleges (Philippines), state universities and colleges to implement their own strategies against the illegal drug trade.
Duterte has acknowledged that the war on drugs has been difficult to control due to the country's long coastline and corruption. He asked president-elect Bongbong Marcos to continue the war on drugs in his own way; Duterte declined an appointment offer as Marcos' drug czar, expressing a desire to retire. Despite international criticism, the war on drugs retained majority support among Filipinos. By February 2022, 58% of barangays had been declared drug-cleared as part of the Barangay Drug Clearing Program.
Duterte had a policy of destroying smuggled luxury vehicles to discourage smugglers. In March 2019, he abolished the Road Board, stating that agency was "nothing but a depository of money and for corruption".
In August 2020, Duterte ordered the Department of Justice (Philippines), Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate corruption allegations within the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). On October 27, he ordered the DOJ's investigation and a newly created taskforce to investigate corruption within the government.
Duterte inherited from the Aquino III administration a strong economy but limited public-infrastructure investment. He promised to continue Aquino's macroeconomic policies while increasing infrastructure spending through his economic team's 10-point socio-economic agenda. To attract more investors by easing restrictions on international retailers, Duterte signed into law amendments to both the Foreign Investment Act of 1991 and the 85-year old Public Service Act. His administration took initiatives to support micro-enterprise, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by launching a microfinance program as an alternative to predatory private loans and significantly increasing the creation of Negosyo Centers that provide efficient services for MSMEs. To address rising inflation following the devastation caused by Typhoon Ompong in September 2018, Duterte signed an administrative order removing non-tariff barriers on agricultural imports. In February 2019, he signed a law updating the 38-year-old Corporation Code of the Philippines to allow a single person to form a corporation. After several more reforms such as the Ease of Doing Business law, the Philippines' Ease of doing business index, ease-of-doing-business ranking improved from 124th to 95th, according to the World Bank's 2020 Doing Business Report.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic caused the Philippine economy to enter a COVID-19 recession, recession following government lockdowns and restrictions. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by 9.5% in 2020, prompting the administration to loosen restrictions to revive the economy. GDP recovered to 5.6% in 2021 after the administration initiated a COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, nationwide vaccination drive and eased pandemic-related restrictions; simultaneously, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 39.6% in pre-pandemic 2020 to 60.4% as of June 2021 due to loans incurred by the government to address the pandemic.
On March 21, 2022, Duterte signed an executive order adopting a 10-point policy agenda to hasten economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. To reduce the National debt of the Philippines, country's debt, which rose to ₱12.68 trillion as of March 2022, in May that year, the Duterte administration's economic team proposed to the incoming Presidency of Bongbong Marcos, Marcos administration a fiscal consolidation plan containing corrective tax measures including the expansion of value-added tax to raise government revenues. By the second quarter of 2022, the Philippine economy had grown by 7.4%, making the country the second-fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia.
The Duterte administration initiated a comprehensive tax reform program. The program's first package the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law (TRAIN Law) adjusted tax rates by excluding those earning an annual taxable income of ₱250,000 from paying personal income tax; the law also raised excise taxes on vehicles, sugar-sweetened beverages, petroleum products, and tobacco and other non-essential goods to generate funds for the administration's massive infrastructure program. The second package, the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE Act), lowered corporate income tax from 30% to 25% to attract investment and maintain fiscal stability. Sin taxes on tobacco, vapor products, alcohol, and electronic cigarettes were raised to fund the Universal Health Care Act, and reduce incidents of smoking-related and alcohol-related diseases. A tax amnesty Duterte signed into law in February 2019 granted errant taxpayers a one-time opportunity to affordably settle their tax liabilities while raising government revenue for infrastructure and social projects.
Duterte signed a law imposing a 5% tax on gross gaming revenues of Philippine offshore gaming operator, offshore gaming operatorss. In March 2019, he signed a law excluding Artisanal mining, small-scale miners from paying income and excise taxes on gold they sell to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, central bank.
Stressing that the long-term benefits of education would outweigh any budgetary problems, in August 2017, Duterte signed Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, a landmark law granting free tuition at all state universities and colleges (SUCs). He enacted laws which institutionalized the Alternative Learning System (Philippines), alternative learning system (ALS); mandated free access to TVET (technical and vocational education and training), technical-vocational education; granted inclusive education for disabled learners; accorded medical scholarships for deserving students in higher education; established a scholarship program for students on teacher-degree programs; instituted a career-guidance and counselling program for all secondary schools; and created the country's National Academy of Sports (Philippines), National Academy of Sports in New Clark City. In education curriculum, significant laws he signed included restoring Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education in the K-12 basic education; establishing Transnational education, transnational higher education that allows foreign universities to offer degree programs in the Philippines; integrating labor education in the higher-education curriculum; requiring the creation of curricula concerning energy-efficient, sustainable technologies; and declaring Filipino Sign Language as the national sign language and including it as a subject in the curriculum for deaf students.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2020, Duterte rejected the resumption of face-to-face classes in COVID-19 low-risk areas until vaccines became available in the country, saying he would not risk endangering students and teachers. On October 5, 2020, the Department of Education (Philippines), Department of Education (DepEd) reopened classes, implementing distance learning, distance and blended learning. Prompted by the detrimental effects of distance learning on students' mental health, in September 2021, Duterte approved a two-month pilot test of limited, face-to-face classes in COVID-19 low-risk areas; in January 2022, he approved the DepEd's suggestion to expand face-to-face classes.
By the end of Duterte's term, 1.97 million students in 220 higher education institutions were granted free tuition from the academic years (AYs) 2018-2019 up until AY 2021–2022, while 364,168 grantees used tertiary-education subsidies and benefits from the administration's ''Tulong Dunong Program'' in the same period.
After incidences of pollution in Boracay island, the country's most popular tourism destination, peaked in January 2018, Duterte in April that year 2018 Boracay closure, ordered a six-year month closure of the island to address the dumping of raw sewage in its waters. The closure began on April 26. Duterte created the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) to administer the cleanup and later issued an executive order extending the BIATF's term until the end of his presidency to ensure the completion of the cleanup plan. The Duterte administration set a limit of 6,000 visitors per day, based on the island's capacity, following Boracay's reopening to the public on October 26, 2018.
Following the Boracay cleanup, in early 2019, Duterte directed DENR and DILG secretaries Cimatu and Año to initiate the cleanup of Manila Bay, threatening to shut down hotels along the bay if they did not install water treatment systems. Shortly after the cleanup started on January 27, Duterte created the Manila Bay Task Force to hasten the cleanup task. As part of the bay's rehabilitation, in September 2020, the DENR began overlaying crushed dolomite (rock), dolomite rock on Manila Bay Beach, a portion of Manila Bay to create an artificial beach; the move drew criticism from environmental advocates and the opposition but support from the general public. Coliform index, Coliform levels in several parts of the bay significantly declined since the cleanup.
Amid imminent land reclamation projects in Manila Bay in February 2019, Duterte signed an executive order transferring the power to approve reclamation projects from the National Economic and Development Authority to the Philippine Reclamation Authority, which he placed under the Office of the President of the Philippines, Office of the President. Favoring government-related reclamation projects in the bay, he rejected private-sector proposals, citing the damage they would cause to the city. Toward the end of his presidency, he ordered the DENR to stop the processing of applications for all reclamation projects in the country, saying massive land-reclamation proposals are "nothing but a breeding ground for corruption".
The administration started its COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, COVID-19 vaccination program on March 1, 2021, a day after the arrival of the country's first vaccine doses, which the Chinese government donated. Under the program, priority was given to medical workers, senior citizens, and persons with co-morbidities. The administration initially had a target of vaccinating 90 million Filipinos before Duterte's term ended but lowered it to between 77 million and 80 million in April 2022 due to persisting vaccine hesitancy. By early June 2022, over 245 million vaccine doses had been secured by the administration, of which 151.2 million had been administered. By the end of Duterte's term in office, 70.5 million people had been fully vaccinated; over 3.7 million COVID-19 cases in the country had been recorded during his presidency since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, with over 3.69 million recoveries and 8,706 (0.23%) active cases.
Duterte promised to prioritize the labor concerns of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). He created the Department of Migrant Workers to improve coordination among government agencies concerned with OFW affairs, the Overseas Filipino Bank, and the Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital. In August 2017, he signed a law extending the validity of Philippine passports from five years to ten years.
Bilateral agreements increasing protections and opportunities for OFWs were reached with 26 countries, including Cambodia, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Romania, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Duterte administration launched OFW centers, which provide centralized government front-line services for employment documents. Starting September 2016, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration exempted OFWs returning to their jobs or same employers abroad from paying travel tax, securing overseas employment certificates, and paying the agency's processing fee. In November 2018, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) launched the OFW E-Card, a new identification card allowing OFWs faster access to OWWA resources, including welfare services, scholarships, training programs, and social benefits.
Duterte called for the abolition of the exploitative kafala system affecting millions of OFWs employed in Gulf countries. Following the death of Filipina maid Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in Kuwait, 2018 Kuwait–Philippines diplomatic crisis, a dispute between the two countries occurred. Duterte issued a deployment ban to Kuwait in February 2018 and thousands of OFWs in Kuwait were repatriated. On May 11, 2018, the two countries signed the Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers between the Philippines and Kuwait, which recognized certain rights of OFWs employed as servants and maids in Kuwait.
On January 15, 2020, following the alleged killing of Jeanelyn Villavende in Kuwait by her employer, the Philippines approved a ban on the deployment of workers to Kuwait . The Philippines and Kuwait signed an agreement on the proposed standard employment contract for OFWs in Kuwait on February 5, 2020. The standard contract contained regulations endorsed by Duterte; these regulations allowed OFWs to keep their passports and cellphones, mandated one Paid time off, day off with pay, and designated working and sleeping hours for the OFWs.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, the Duterte administration repatriated more than one million OFWs and provided them free COVID-19 testing, food, and accommodation in Metro Manila.
According to Duterte, transactions would be simpler and faster through the use of a national identity system. On August 6, 2018, he signed into law the Philippine Identification System Act (PhilSys Law), seeking to integrate government IDs into a single identification card for all citizens and foreign residents in the country. On February 14, 2022, he issued an executive order institutionalizing Philippine national identity card, the national ID card as sufficient proof of identity and age in all forms of transactions, eliminating the need to present additional identity documents.
The PhilSys project gained public support, but its implementation was delayed by pandemic restrictions and management issues and within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. By June 2022, 66.48 million Filipinos have completed the Step 2 registration process involving validation of supporting documents and biometric captures, while the Philippine Statistics Authority delivered 11.53 million ID cards to registrants through the Philippine Postal Corporation.
Duterte campaigned to break up the telecom duopoly of Globe and Smart due to the companies' poor mobile network services and internet speeds. 2018 Philippine third telecommunications provider bidding, Bidding was held in November 2018 to determine a third major telecommunications provider in the country; Dito Telecommunity, which was then known as Mislatel Consortium, provisionally won the bid on November 7. Duterte formally awarded the company its certificate of public convenience and necessity in July 2019. On March 9, 2021, Dito Telecommunity began commercial operations, becoming the Philippines' third telecommunications company, and soon received a 25-year franchise.
In March 2017, Duterte approved the National Broadband Program (NBP) that was developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Despite a small budget, the DICT and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority completed the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure, an ultra-high-speed system for Submarine communications cable, international submarine cables that avoided the earthquake-prone Luzon Strait.
Duterte and his administration were ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy, embroiled in controversy following the cessation of TV and radio broadcast operations of ABS-CBN, the largest media network in the country. Duterte expressed displeasure at the media network following its failure to air his political advertisements for which Rodrigo Duterte 2016 presidential campaign, his 2016 election campaign had paid; during the same period, the network aired Senator Antonio Trillanes' advertisements, showing clips of Duterte speaking about issues of rape and murder. Duterte said he would not allow the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to grant ABS-CBN a permit unless the firm paid its alleged tax debt. In February 2020, a few months before its legislative franchise expired, ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak issued an apology to Duterte for failing to air his political advertisements, offering to return the remaining 2.6 million in advertisement funds. Duterte accepted the apology and declined the refund, and distanced himself from the franchise-renewal issue, saying he had no control over the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of Representatives or Solicitor General Jose Calida, who earlier filed a ''quo warranto'' petition before the Supreme Court, seeking to invalidate ABS-CBN's franchise due to an alleged violation of the 1987 Constitution regarding foreign ownership. Following the expiry of its legislative franchise on May 4, ABS-CBN ceased its broadcast operations; the following day, the NTC issued a cease-and-desist order. On July 10, the Philippine House Committee on Legislative Franchises, House Committee on Legislative Franchises, in a 70-to-11 vote, declined the media network's application for a new 25-year franchise, citing issues with the dual citizenship of its chairman emeritus Eugenio Lopez III, a possible violation of constitutional limits on foreign ownership, reported tax and labor violations, and allegations of biased reporting and political meddling. Opposition politicians, media groups, academic institutions, and church leaders condemned the broadcast shutdown and the franchise-renewal denial. Calida called the cease-and-desist order "a triumph of the rule of law".
Duterte signed laws requiring the government to provide free internet access in public places and allowing mobile users to permanently keep their numbers. In March 2021, to improve internet access, he issued an executive order granting telecommunication companies access to satellite services. By March 2022, 7,977 WiFi operational sites in public areas nationwide were established under the Free WiFi for All program while the completion rate of the first phase of the NBP was at 73.5%.
In 2016, Duterte said dictator Ferdinand Marcos's remains would be moved and interred at Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery), calling him a president, soldier, and hero. On November 18, 2016, Marcos was buried with full military honors at Heroes' Cemetery after the Supreme Court issued a verdict permitting it. The burial provoked national outrage, especially among those who had suffered Human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship, human rights abuses under the Marcos regime; protests were continuously held from November 18 to 30. Vice President Leni Robredo criticized the burial while Duterte expressed hope people could "find space in their hearts to forgive and set free those who have hurt or injured them".
The Duterte administration's foreign policy emphasized diplomacy and independence. This policy rejected interference by foreign governments; Duterte said: "We will observe and must insist on the time-honored principle of sovereignty, sovereign equality, non-interference and the commitment of peaceful settlements of dispute that will serve our people and protect the interests of our country".
Duterte placed great importance on the Philippines' diplomatic relations with its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors. Following tradition, his first trips outside the country were to Laos on September 7, 2016, for the 49th ASEAN Leaders Summit, Indonesia on September 9, Vietnam on September 29, Malaysia on November 9, Cambodia on December 13, Singapore on December 15, Thailand on March 17, and Myanmar on March 19.
In 2017, the Philippines was chair and host to 2017 ASEAN Summits, the ASEAN summits; the culminating event was held in Manila on November 10–14 (31st summit). Duterte and other ASEAN leaders signed the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, a landmark document that would ensure social protection of migrant workers in the ASEAN region; however, the consensus was silent on undocumented workers.
Early in his presidential tenure, Duterte made efforts to distance the Philippines from the United States, and forge closer relationships with China and Russia, particularly in trade and commerce. In his first visit to China in October 2016, Duterte announced his "separation of a foreign policy" from the United States, and declared a realignment of the Philippines with China. Duterte said he intended to review the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which he said did not bear the signature of the Philippine president; a month earlier, he informed the United States the upcoming annual Balikatan exercise would be the last. After the U.S. State Department in November 2016 refused to sell 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippine police due to human rights violations concerns relating to the Philippine Drug War, drug war, Duterte sought to source weapons from China and Russia. In May 2017, Duterte expressed interest in conducting joint military exercises between the Philippine Armed Forces and China's People's Liberation Army in Mindanao, particularly in the Sulu Sea.
Seeking to avoid armed conflict, Duterte adopted a conciliatory and friendly stance towards China that was unlike his predecessor's antagonism toward it. In 2016, Duterte and Chinese president Xi Jinping created the biannual Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea, a process allowing the two nations to peacefully manage disputes and strengthen their relations. In May 2017, Duterte said Xi had threatened war if the Philippines tried to enforce the South China Sea Arbitration ruling and drill for oil in the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte also hoped a non-confrontational approach to China would eventually lead to joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea to support Build! Build! Build!. During Xi's first state visit to the country in November 2018, the Philippines and China signed 29 agreements, including cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative and a memorandum of understanding on joint oil-and-gas developments in the West Philippine Sea. In September 2019, Duterte said Xi had offered the Philippines a controlling stake in a gas deal in the Reed Tablemount, Reed Bank if the Philippines set aside the South China Sea Arbitration ruling.
In April 2017, Duterte ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to occupy and fortify several uninhabited islands in the South China Sea. Following the sighting of Chinese survey vessels, he ordered the Philippine Navy to build structures on Benham Rise to assert the Philippines' sovereignty over the region. A month later, he signed an executive order formally renaming Benham Rise to Philippine Rise.
Chinese aggression in the South China Sea strained the nations' relationship. In April 2017, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua called Philippine plans to repair Thitu Island, Thitu (Pag-asa) Island illegal. Between 2018 and 2020, China deployed hundreds of military vessels around Thitu Island to impede these repairs. In April 2019, following a military report at least 275 Chinese vessels had been monitoring the region since January, Duterte threatened to send Philippine soldiers on a "suicide mission" should China further encroach. In January 2021, China passed a law authorizing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels as needed and in March, it Whitsun Reef incident, moored 220 Chinese vessels believed to be manned by the Chinese military at disputed Whitsun Reef. In response, Duterte authorized foreign-affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to submit several diplomatic protests.
By June 2020, Duterte was gradually distancing the Philippines from China. In July that year, he called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines), Department of Foreign Affairs to demand China recognize the South China Sea Arbitration ruling. During the 75th United Nations General Assembly in September 2020, Duterte made one of his most vocal defenses of the Philippine victory in the arbitration case:
In January 2020, when the U.S. denied a visa for Senator Ronald dela Rosa due to his role as police chief during the Philippine Drug War, Philippine anti-drug war, Duterte moved to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Duterte repeatedly postponed the termination between June 2020 and June 2021, canceling it in July 2021 during U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to the Philippines. Following criticism over vaccine-procurement delays during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duterte used the VFA as leverage for securing vaccines from the U.S.; in August 2021, he thanked the U.S. for its donations, which he said played a key role in his decision to keep the VFA.
In December 2020, the Philippines received military equipment worth (1.4 billion ($29 million) from the U.S. The countries made efforts to reinvigorate relations. This included high-level visits by commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, who affirmed the Mutual Defense Treaty (United States–Philippines), Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines, and Marine Corps Commandant David H. Berger. In September 2021, foreign-affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana met with counterparts in the U.S. to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines MDT. In the same month, Locsin welcomed the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, which he said could help balance the power in the Indo-Pacific region; days after, Duterte expressed concern the AUKUS deal could provoke a "nuclear arms race".
China played an important role in the early months of the COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, Philippines' response to COVID-19. In February 2021, China became the first country to send the Philippines COVID-19 vaccines; Duterte said he had asked Xi for assistance in securing vaccines. On January 16, 2022, China donated 1 billion of non-combat military equipment, two days after the Philippines made a deal with India to buy the BrahMos, BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to improve its coastal defense.
In March 2022, Duterte warned trouble might occur if the next Philippine administration chose not to honor the memorandum of understanding with China on joint-exploration activities in the West Philippine Sea, after receiving a "reminder" from a man from China whom he did not identify. On June 24, six days before his term ended, Duterte ordered the complete termination of the planned joint oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea with China; Locsin stated in the three years since it was signed, the "objective of developing oil and gas resources so critical for the Philippines" had not been achieved.
Amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, Duterte pledged to open the country's facilities to American forces under the 1951 MDT if the conflict spreads to Asia.
Philippine-Russian relations improved during Duterte's presidency. On November 20, 2016, Duterte met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC Peru 2016, APEC summit in Lima, Peru; Duterte has praised Putin's leadership skills, calling him his "idol". Duterte stated the Philippines could seek stronger diplomatic cooperation with China and Russia "to make the world more peaceful" but that the Philippines was "not ready" for military alliances due to the United States-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (United States–Philippines), Mutual Defense Treaty. The Russian government offered a strategic partnership with the Philippines and offered to assist the purchasing of Russian-made weaponry.
In May 2017, Duterte made his first state visit to Russia and met with Putin to finalize a defense-cooperation agreement between the nations but the visit was cut short when Battle of Marawi, Islamic militants attacked Marawi. In October the same year, the Philippines and Russia signed an agreement of defense and technical cooperation, which included a sales contract for the purchase of defense articles with Russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport; Russia donated thousands of rifles, helmets, and other military equipment to the Philippines.
On October 2, 2019, Duterte made his second state visit to Russia to discuss increasing security and defense cooperation. During the visit, Duterte received an honorary degree, honorary doctorate degree for international relations or foreign diplomacy from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021, Duterte and Putin held a teleconference to discuss production and supply of coronavirus vaccines, defense, and trade opportunities; Duterte informed Putin of his plan to order 20 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. On May 1 that year, 15,000 Sputnik V vaccines purchased by the government arrived in the Philippines.
A few days after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the Philippines voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/1, a United Nations resolution, expressing "explicit condemnation" of the invasion. Duterte described Putin, whom he considers a friend, as "suicidal" and said the invasion deserved condemnation. He said the Philippines would remain neutral on the issue. Amid 2021–present global energy crisis, rising global oil prices brought about by the invasion, in May 2022, Duterte contradicted Putin's labeling of the invasion as a "special military operation", saying the invasion was a war waged against "a sovereign nation". A few days before he left office, Duterte approved his administration's cancellation of its order of 16 Mil Mi-17 military helicopters from Russia for fear of United States sanctions amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Opposition alliance Otso Diretso promoted the 2019 mid-term election as a referendum on Duterte and his administration. Eight of the twelve candidates backed by Duterte's administration won Senate seats; Otso Diretso suffered a historic loss, failing to secure any seats.
In a June 8, 2021, interview, Duterte stated he would either remain neutral in the forthcoming 2022 Philippine presidential election or endorse a candidate. Duterte later stated he may run as vice president. In August that year, Duterte announced he would run as vice president; critics raised the possibility of him extending his term. The PDP–Laban Cusi faction fielded former Philippine National Police chief and Senator Ronald dela Rosa as president, who was widely suspected of being a Placeholder (politics), placeholder for Duterte's daughter, Davao City mayor Sara Duterte. On October 2, 2021, Duterte withdrew his candidacy and announced his retirement from politics, with long-time aide and Senator Bong Go replacing him as the vice-presidential candidate.
On November 13, 2021, hours after Sara unexpectedly decided to run as vice president under the Lakas–CMD party, dela Rosa withdrew and was replaced by Go. Duterte retracted his planned retirement and announced he would run for vice president as an expression of dismay for Sara's decision to enter the vice-presidential race when polls showed she was the preferred candidate for presidency. He later withdrew candidacy after deciding not to run against his daughter, and instead announced his intent to run as senator, while endorsing a Go–Sara team.
Sara, however, decided to partner with Bongbong Marcos, who announced his presidential candidacy in November 2021. Go expressed his disinterest in the presidency. On December 14, hours after Go withdrew his candidacy for president, Duterte withdrew his senate bid.
Duterte remained influential before the national elections because several presidential candidates were open to his endorsement due to his popularity. Allies of Duterte endorsed different candidates after the Cusi faction was left without a leader following Go's withdrawal. The PDP–Laban Cusi faction endorsed presidential candidate Marcos, with some officials calling for Duterte to do the same. Duterte, however, endorsed only Sara as vice president and 17 senatorial candidates, and said he would remain neutral, deciding not to endorse any presidential candidate and prohibiting his Cabinet members from campaigning for any candidate to avoid suspicion he would use public funds for his preferred successor's campaign; and to prevent cabinet members from compromising their integrity. Duterte said the next president should be decisive, compassionate, a good judge of character, and preferably a lawyer, which a PDP–Laban official interpreted as a "virtual endorsement" for his rival Vice President Leni Robredo, who also decided to run for president. In March 2022, Go said Duterte briefly met with Marcos and gave him advice on the presidency but could not say whether Duterte endorsed Marcos.
On May 5, 2022, Duterte created a Presidential transition of Bongbong Marcos#Duterte's transition committee, transition committee led by Executive Secretary (Philippines), Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to oversee the transition of power to the next administration. According to analysts, Duterte's popularity was "inherited" by Marcos and Sara, both of whom won landslides in the election.
President Rodrigo Duterte's Inaugural Speech.
Radio TV Malacañang.
Philippines President Duterte's report card: Why he remains popular
{{authority control Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, Rodrigo Duterte Presidencies of the Philippines 2010s in the Philippines 2020s in the Philippines 2016 establishments in the Philippines 2022 disestablishments in the Philippines
Election, transition, and inauguration
Duterte, campaigning on a Party platform, platform of fighting Crime in the Philippines, crime, Corruption in the Philippines, corruption, and Illegal drugs in the Philippines, illegal drugs, won the 2016 Philippine presidential elections, 2016 presidential election with votes, defeating Liberal Party (Philippines), Liberal Party leader Mar Roxas by over 6.6 million votes.
On Election day, May 9, 2016, the Congress of the Philippines declared Duterte the winner of the presidential election. Duterte's transition team was organized after he led by a significant margin at the unofficial count by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. The transition team prepared the new presidential residence and cabinet appointments, and held meetings with the Presidency of Benigno Aquino III, outgoing administration.
On June 30, 2016, Bienvenido L. Reyes, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines and fraternity brother of Duterte, Inauguration of Rodrigo Duterte, inaugurated Duterte as the List of presidents of the Philippines, sixteenth president of the Philippines in a simple and modest ceremony held in the largest room of Malacañang Palace in Manila. This was the fourth inauguration to be held in Malacañang and the first since the establishment of the Fifth Philippine Republic.
Administration and cabinet
On May 31, 2016, a few weeks before his presidential inauguration, Duterte named his Cabinet of the Philippines, Cabinet, which consisted of former military generals, childhood friends, classmates, and leftist politicians. Following his presidential inauguration, he administered a mass oath-taking for his Cabinet officials, and held his first Cabinet meeting on June 30. He appointed his long-time personal aide Bong Go as Special Assistant to the President (Philippines), Special Assistant to the President to provide general supervision to the Presidential Management Staff (Philippines), Presidential Management Staff. During his tenure, Duterte appointed several retired military generals and police directors to the Cabinet and other government agencies, stating they are honest and competent. He initially offered four Executive departments of the Philippines, executive departments to left-leaning individuals, who later resigned, were fired, or rejected by the Commission on Appointments after relations between the government and the communist rebels deteriorated. Duterte fired several Cabinet members and officials who were linked to corruption but critics accused him of "recycling" people he fired when he appointed some of them to other government positions. Stating he is not an economist, Duterte appointed several technocrats to his Cabinet, which he relied upon for economic affairs.Judicial appointments
Duterte appointed the following to the Supreme Court of the Philippines:Chief Justice
#Teresita Leonardo-De Castro - August 28, 2018 #Lucas Bersamin - November 28, 2018 #Diosdado Peralta - October 23, 2019 #Alexander Gesmundo - April 5, 2021 (as Chief Justice)Associate Justices
#Samuel Martires - March 6, 2017 (as Associate Justice), July 26, 2018 (as Ombudsman of the Philippines, Ombudsman). #Noel G. Tijam - March 8, 2017 #Andres Reyes Jr. - July 12, 2017 #Alexander Gesmundo - August 14, 2017 (as Associate Justice) #Jose C. Reyes - August 10, 2018 #Ramon Paul Hernando - October 10, 2018 #Rosmari Carandang, Rosmari D. Carandang - November 28, 2018 #Amy Lazaro-Javier, Amy C. Lazaro-Javier - March 7, 2019 #Henri Jean Paul Inting - May 27, 2019 #Rodil V. Zalameda - August 5, 2019 #Edgardo Delos Santos, Edgardo L. de Los Santos - December 3, 2019 #Mario Lopez (jurist), Mario V. Lopez - December 3, 2019 #Samuel Gaerlan, Samuel H. Gaerlan - January 8, 2020 #Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla - July 16, 2020 #Ricardo Rosario - October 8, 2020 # Jhosep Lopez - January 26, 2021 #Japar Dimaampao - July 2, 2021 #Midas Marquez - September 27, 2021 #Antonio Kho Jr. - February 23, 2022 #Maria Filomena Singh - May 18, 2022Major activities
Speeches
*:s:Rodrigo Duterte's Inaugural Address, Inaugural Address (June 30, 2016) *2016 State of the Nation Address (Philippines), First State of the Nation Address (July 25, 2016) *2017 State of the Nation Address (Philippines), Second State of the Nation Address (July 24, 2017) *2018 State of the Nation Address (Philippines), Third State of the Nation Address (July 23, 2018) *2019 State of the Nation Address (Philippines), Fourth State of the Nation Address (July 22, 2019) *2020 State of the Nation Address (Philippines), Fifth State of the Nation Address (July 27, 2020) *2021 State of the Nation Address (Philippines), Sixth State of the Nation Address (July 26, 2021)Major acts and legislation
Duterte signed into law 379 bill (law), bills in the 17th Congress of the Philippines, 17th Congress; 120 of these laws were national in scope while 259 were local. In the 18th Congress of the Philippines, 18th Congress, Duterte signed into law 311 bills, of which 119 were national and 192 were local.Executive issuances
Duterte issued List of executive orders by Rodrigo Duterte, 176 executive orders, 1,401 proclamations, 53 memorandum orders, 98 memorandum circulars, 48 administrative orders, 20 special orders, and one general order.National budget
Leadership style
Duterte is known for his authoritarian leadership style and populist, man-of-the-people persona, characterized by fiery rhetoric and controversial, off-the-cuff speeches. His spokesperson and advisors frequently had to interpret and clarify his remarks. Some observers expressed concern that his statements may have been misconstrued as government policy. He was also criticized for his sexist jokes and low tolerance for dissent. Duterte believed an "iron fist" was needed to instill discipline and cultivated a public image of a father figure ''Tatay Digong'' (Father Digong), who instills order and discipline within the nation. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic, he imposed COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines, community quarantines and used the military and police to enforce Social distancing, social-distancing guidelines. Scholars coined the term "Dutertismo" to refer to Duterte's style of governance and the illiberal democracy, illiberal and radical elements of his presidency. Duterte has been called a populist for his rejection of titles and casual attitude. He has issued an order prohibiting the use of honorifics for himself, his family, and his Cabinet members. He often chewed gum in public and wore casual attire for formal occasions, saying he dresses for comfort and not to impress anybody. His informal and unaffected attitude attracted support from many Filipinos. Duterte described himself as a Night owl (person), night person, typically starting his working day at 13:00 or 14:00, and calling for news conferences that began at midnight.First 100 days
During his first 100 days in office, Duterte issued an Freedom of Information Order (Philippines), executive order on freedom of information and sought to resume peace talks with Communist rebellion in the Philippines, communist insurgents. He also formulated a comprehensive tax-reform plan and led efforts to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Additionally, he sought to streamline government transactions and launched the nationwide 9-1-1 (Philippines), 9–1–1 rescue and 8888 (Philippines), 8888 complaint hotlines. He also established a one-stop service center for overseas Filipino workers and increased the combat and incentive pay of soldiers and police personnel. Internationally, he took actions to limit the number of Visiting forces agreement, visiting US troops in the country and had contact with China and Russia to improve diplomatic relations.
Duterte launched a Philippine Drug War, campaign against illegal drugs resulting in the arrest of 22,000 suspects, surrender of 731,000 people, and deaths of 3,300, half killed by unknown assailants. He criticized international critics, including US President Barack Obama, the US government, the United Nations, and the European Union, who condemned his tactics.
After the 2016 Davao City bombing, September 2 bombing in Davao City killed 14 people, Duterte issued Proclamation No. 55, officially declaring a "State of emergency, state of national emergency on account of lawless violence in Mindanao".
Domestic affairs
Insurgency and terrorism
Islamic insurgency in Mindanao
Duterte, from Mindanao, gained Muslim support in the 2016 election. He argued that the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were not terrorists but Moro people, Moro coalitions fighting for dignity. He blamed Christianity and colonialism, colonial Christianity and the United States for the Moro conflict in Mindanao.
In 2016, Duterte signed an executive order expanding the Bangsamoro Transition Commission from 15 members to 21, with 11 chosen by the MILF and 10 nominated by the government. This commission is responsible for drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is seen as a key part of the Federalism in the Philippines, federalism plan for resolving the Bangsamoro peace process.
Following the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed between the Government of the Philippines and the MILF in 2014, on July 26, 2018, Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, which abolished the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and provided the basic structure of government for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Duterte signed an executive order in April 2019 facilitating the Demobilization, decommissioning of MILF forces and weapons; from June 2019 to May 2022, around 19,200 former MILF combatants and 2,100 weapons were decommissioned. At the urging of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Duterte signed a law postponing the 2025 Bangsamoro Parliament election, first parliamentary elections of BARMM from 2022 to 2025.
Campaign against terrorism
On May 23, 2017, Battle of Marawi, clashes between Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine security forces and the ISIS-affiliated Maute group, Maute and Abu Sayyaf (ASG) Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist groups occurred in Marawi, leading to the Proclamation No. 216, declaration of martial law across Mindanao. The city was extensively damaged by militant fire and the responding military airstrikes. An Task Force Bangon Marawi, inter-agency task force was established to aid in Rehabilitation of Marawi, the city's rehabilitation, and Marawi was declared liberated from terrorist influence on October 18 following the deaths of leaders Omar Maute and Isnilon Hapilon.
Citing the need to quell terrorist activities, Congress granted Duterte's requests to extend martial law in Mindanao thrice between 2017 and 2019. Martial law lapsed on January 1, 2020 after Duterte decided not to extend it.
In July 2020, Duterte signed the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 to curb terror threats and acts; critics argued the law relaxes safeguards on human rights and is prone to abuse, while authors and sponsors of the bill compared it to laws of other countries and maintained it would not be used against law-abiding citizens. From 2016-2021, 1,544 ASG members, 971 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters members, and 1,427 Dawlah Islamiyah members were captured, killed, or surrendered.
Campaign against communist insurgency
Duterte sought peace with communist rebels, directing his advisor Silvestre Bello III to lead talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the New People's Army (NPA), and the National Democratic Front (Philippines), National Democratic Front (NDF) in Oslo. The administration hoped for a peace treaty within a year and temporarily released communist prisoners for the talks. The Commission on Appointments rejected several officials appointed by Duterte with leftist affiliations, leading to deteriorating relations between Duterte and the communist rebels. After the NPA kidnapped and attacked soldiers during a ceasefire, Duterte canceled negotiations with the CPP-NPA-NDF and designated them as a List of designated terrorist groups#Philippines, terrorist organization and ordered the arrest of all NDF negotiators. Clashes between the military and the rebels resumed after the ceasefire was lifted. Duterte formed a task force to centralize government efforts for the reintegration of former rebels and issued an executive order in December 2018 creating the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) to address the "root causes" of communism. In March 2019, he permanently terminated peace negotiations with the CPP-NPA-NDF, facilitating localized peace talks. In July 2017, Duterte threatened to bomb Lumad schools, alleging they shelter rebels and teach against the government. He supported the military's claim that the left-wing party-lists of the Makabayan Bloc are fronts for the CPP, drawing criticism for Red-tagging in the Philippines, red-tagging, which he denied. By the end of Duterte's term in office, the number of NPA guerrilla warfare, guerrilla fronts was reduced from 89 to 23; of more than 25,000 "members, supporters, and sympathizers of the underground movement", only 2,000 remained according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).Defense
The Duterte administration committed to continue the AFP Modernization Act, 15-year modernization program of the AFP initiated by the Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Arroyo administration and revived by the Benigno Aquino III administration. In October 2016, the Duterte administration signed a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries for two missile Guided missile frigate, frigates worth Philippine peso, ₱15.74 billion. The two frigates were delivered in 2020 and 2021, and were officially Ship commissioning, commissioned as BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150) and BRP Antonio Luna (FF-151), respectively. On June 20, 2018, Duterte approved the ₱300 billion budget for ''Horizon 2'', the second phase of the Revised AFP Modernization Program, which ran from 2018 to 2022. In February 2022, the Duterte administration signed a ₱32 billion deal to purchase 32 additional List of Sikorsky S-70 variants, S-70i "Black Hawk" combat utility helicopters from PZL Mielec of Poland. In April 2022, Duterte signed a law restricting the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, chief of staff and other senior AFP officers to a fixed, three-year term unless terminated earlier by the President. The law allows for extensions "in times of war or other national emergency declared by Congress". By June 2022, Duterte's last month in office, 54 projects under the AFP Modernization Act and the Revised AFP Modernization Act had been completed.Crime
Duterte ran a law-and-order campaign. He created a task force to ensure a safe environment for media workers and signed a law creating the Office of the Judiciary Marshals, which was tasked with ensuring the security and protection of judiciary of the Philippines, judiciary personnel and property. He appointed at least 1,700 new prosecutors to the National Prosecution Service, and signed legislation prohibiting hazing in university organizations, increasing penalties for gender-based harassment in public places, and increasing protection of consumers against fraud. He strengthened the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, eased Gun law in the Philippines, gun application requirements for those in danger, and ordered Kapa investment scam, the shutdown of Ponzi scheme, Ponzi-like investment firms. To strengthen border control, he implemented an Advance Passenger Information System. After he ordered a crackdown on loiterers in June 2018, the Philippine National Police (PNP) launched Oplan Tambay, an anti-crime campaign. Duterte failed in his bid to restore the death penalty (also known as Capital punishment in the Philippines, capital punishment) in April 2017 when a bill to resume it for certain offenses stalled in the Senate and did not receive enough votes to pass. The crime rate significantly dropped under Duterte's presidency, excluding killings related to the war on drugs. In October 2021, the PNP reported a 49.6% drop in crimes since July 2016. Police data showed that between 2016 and September 2021, 1.36 million crimes were reported, compared to the 2.67 million crimes reported between 2010 and 2015.War on Drugs
Duterte, during his presidential campaign, warned the Philippines was at risk of becoming a narco-state and promised to fight the illegal drug trade. After his inauguration, the Philippine National Police (PNP) launched ''Oplan Tokhang'', inviting identified drug suspects to surrender. Duterte identified three Chinese nationals who were alleged drug lords in the Philippines, and Rodrigo Duterte's August 7, 2016, speech, named 150 public officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade.
At the height of his anti-drugs campaign, Duterte urged the public and communists to kill drug dealers. Pardons were promised to police who shot drug dealers during anti-drug raids, prompting thousands to surrender. Rehab centers were built to accommodate them. Concerns arose locally and internationally due to the high number of suspects who died during police operations. In August 2016, opposition Senator Leila de Lima launched a Senate probe into the extrajudicial killings, using hitman Edgar Matobato of the alleged vigilante group Davao Death Squad as a witness. Matobato testified Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, was involved in extrajudicial killings in the city; Duterte called the allegation a "lie". The probe was terminated on October 13, 2016 for lack of evidence. De Lima was arrested for her alleged involvement in the New Bilibid Prison drug trafficking scandal, New Bilibid Prison illegal drug trade.
In March 2017, Duterte created the Inter-agency Committee on Anti-illegal Drugs, led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, to tackle drug crime. Later that year, a lawyer filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court against Duterte and 11 officials for crimes against humanity.
In October 2017, due to public outrage over alleged police abuse in the continuing crackdown, Duterte prohibited the PNP from joining anti-drug raids and designated the PDEA as the "sole agency" in charge of the war on drugs. The PNP launched a Drug rehabilitation, recovery and wellness program for drug dependents in the same month. The PNP was allowed to rejoin the campaign in December 2017 with the PDEA still as the lead agency. In October 2018, Duterte signed an executive order institutionalizing the Philippine Anti-Illegal Drugs Strategy, allowing all government departments, State Universities and Colleges (Philippines), state universities and colleges to implement their own strategies against the illegal drug trade.
Duterte has acknowledged that the war on drugs has been difficult to control due to the country's long coastline and corruption. He asked president-elect Bongbong Marcos to continue the war on drugs in his own way; Duterte declined an appointment offer as Marcos' drug czar, expressing a desire to retire. Despite international criticism, the war on drugs retained majority support among Filipinos. By February 2022, 58% of barangays had been declared drug-cleared as part of the Barangay Drug Clearing Program.
Withdrawal from the ICC
In November 2016, Duterte signaled his intention to withdraw the Philippines from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after an ICC prosecutor said the organization may have authority to prosecute the perpetrators of drug war deaths. Duterte maintained that the Rome Statute, which was ratified by the Senate in 2011, was never binding in the Philippines because it was never published in the Official Gazette (Philippines), Official Gazette. The withdrawal process began in March 2018 after the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, launched a preliminary examination into crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Duterte and other officials in the war on drugs. The withdrawal took effect a year later on March 17, 2019. A Supreme Court (SC) ruling in March 2021 dismissed three petitions filed by the Philippine Coalition for the ICC, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and opposition senators challenging Duterte's withdrawal from the ICC on the grounds that the petitioners were unable to establish legal standing to challenge the action. The court also ruled that the President has no "unbridled authority" to withdraw from treaties. On September 16, 2021, the ICC authorized a formal investigation into the war on drugs in the Philippines, focusing on crimes committed between 2016 and March 2019. The Philippine government requested a deferral of the probe in November 2021, which was suspended by the ICC to assess the request. However, on June 26, 2022, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan concluded that the request was "not warranted" and requested the pre-trial chamber of the ICC to immediately resume the investigation.Anti-corruption
Duterte signed the Freedom of Information Order (Philippines), Freedom of Information executive order and created the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission to combat corruption in the executive branch. A law he signed in December 2020 allows the President to expedite permits, licenses, and certifications during national emergencies.
Duterte had a policy of destroying smuggled luxury vehicles to discourage smugglers. In March 2019, he abolished the Road Board, stating that agency was "nothing but a depository of money and for corruption".
In August 2020, Duterte ordered the Department of Justice (Philippines), Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate corruption allegations within the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). On October 27, he ordered the DOJ's investigation and a newly created taskforce to investigate corruption within the government.
Presidential pardons and amnesty
Early in his term, Duterte pardoned several communist rebels and political prisoners while pursuing peace talks. He also granted pardons to elderly and sickly prisoners, as well as upperclassmen and graduating cadets from the Philippine Military Academy and Philippine National Police Academy with outstanding punishments and demerits. In November 2016, he granted an absolute pardon to actor Robin Padilla, who was convicted in 1994 for illegal possession of firearms. In August 2018, Duterte revoked the amnesty of his staunch critic Senator Antonio Trillanes, saying the amnesty that was granted in 2010 by President Benigno Aquino III was void ''ab initio'' because Trillanes did not apply for it, and refused to admit guilt for his roles in the Oakwood Mutiny, 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and the Manila Peninsula siege, 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. On September 7, 2020, Duterte granted an absolute pardon and early release to US Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, who was serving time for murdering Death of Jennifer Laude, Jennifer Laude in Olongapo. Pemberton was released due to Good conduct time, good behavior after serving less than six years in prison. In February 2021, Duterte signed an executive order creating the National Amnesty Commission, which was tasked with processing applications for amnesty for former rebels. He signed four proclamations granting amnesty to members of the Moro National Liberation Front, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the communist movement, the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa ng Pilipinas, the Revolutionary Proletarian Army, and the Alex Boncayao Brigade.Federalism and constitutional reform
Duterte advocated Federalism in the Philippines, federalism as a better system of governance for the Philippines, arguing that the Internal Revenue Allotment disproportionately benefits Metro Manila and that he would end his term early if federalism was instated. On December 7, 2016, Duterte signed Philippine Executive Order 10, an executive order creating a 25-member consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution within six months. On January 23, 2018, he appointed former Chief Justice Reynato Puno as chairman along with other experts and officials. The committee approved a federal charter banning Political dynasties in the Philippines, political dynasties, Turncoat, political turncoatism, and oligopolies, and granted more power to the Ombudsman of the Philippines, Ombudsman and Commission on Audit (Philippines), Commission on Audit. On October 8, however, the Philippine House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, House Committee on Constitutional Amendments passed a new draft of the federal constitution filed by Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which removed several provisions and eliminated term limits for Congress members, and removed the Vice President of the Philippines, vice president from the Philippine presidential line of succession, presidential line of succession. The House of Representatives passed the draft, but the Senate rejected it. Early in his term, Duterte raised the idea of a Revolutionary government in the Philippines, revolutionary government but later rejected it. He criticized the Party-list representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines, party-list system and called for its abolition, saying it was no longer representative of the marginalized. In June 2019, Duterte said federalism might not be established during his presidency. He later said at a democracy summit hosted by US President Joe Biden that he had failed in his bid to establish a federal system in the country due to lack of congressional support. On June 1, 2021, Duterte issued an executive order for the devolution of some executive functions to local governments.Agriculture
The Agriculture in the Philippines, agricultural sector was in decline under the Presidency of Benigno Aquino III, Benigno Aquino III administration, but saw 6.3% growth in Duterte's first year. However, despite growth in other sectors, Duterte's administration struggled to revive the farm sector, which has continued to decline. Inflation in 2018 led to the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) being enacted in 2019, which ended the National Food Authority (Philippines), National Food Authority's monopoly on rice imports. The RTL replaced import limits with a 35% tariff, with revenue going to a Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund to support farmers. Despite criticism, the law gained support from business groups, and retail rice prices stabilized. In 2019, Duterte authorized the Department of Agriculture (Philippines), Department of Agriculture to use tariff funds for cash assistance to small farmers. Duterte signed a law easing Commonwealth of the Philippines, Commonwealth era restrictions on agricultural patents, allowing land titles to be immediately available for trade. The Sagip Saka Act was signed in 2019, promoting enterprise development for farmers and fishermen to boost their incomes and strengthen the direct purchase of agricultural goods. Certification of Organic food, organic produce was made more accessible and affordable. In 2020, Duterte provided new agricultural graduates with up to of land to encourage young people to enter agriculture and avoid a farmer shortage. In February 2018, Duterte signed a law providing free irrigation for farmers owning up to of land, benefiting about 1.033 million farmers by December 2021. In February 2021, a law creating a trust fund for coconut farmers was signed, and in June 2022, an executive order implementing the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan was issued, facilitating the release of ₱75 billion of Coco Levy Fund scam, coco levy assets declared state property by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Supreme Court. In 2019, African swine fever prompted the Philippine government to tighten animal quarantine and ban pork imports. Over three million hogs were culled from 2020-2021, causing a supply deficit and higher pork prices. In response, Duterte lowered import tariffs on pork for one year and initiated a repopulation program. On May 10, 2021, Duterte declared a state of calamity due to the continued spread of the disease. By July 2021, the Duterte administration had completed of farm-to-market roads and of farm-to-mill roads under the Build! Build! Build! program.Disaster resilience
Since 2017, Duterte called for the creation of the Department of Disaster Resilience to administer disaster response and rehabilitation, but the bill was opposed by some senators over concerns about bureaucracy. In 2019, Duterte approved GeoRisk PH, a multi-agency initiative to serve as the central resource for natural hazard and risk-assessment information. Following the 2020 Taal Volcano eruption, Duterte called for the construction of more evacuation centers in disaster-prone areas; by July 2021, 223 new evacuation centers had been constructed under the Build! Build! Build! program. After typhoons Typhoon Rolly, Rolly and Typhoon Ulysses, Ulysses hit the country, Duterte issued an executive order creating the Build Back Better Task Force, a permanent inter-agency body responsible for post-disaster rehabilitation and recovery in affected areas. In September 2021, Duterte signed the BFP Modernization Act, mandating a 10-year program to modernize the Bureau of Fire Protection and expanding its mandate to include disaster-risk response and emergency management. In April 2022, the government inaugurated three evacuation centers in Batangas province outside the Taal Volcano danger zone.Economy
Duterte inherited from the Aquino III administration a strong economy but limited public-infrastructure investment. He promised to continue Aquino's macroeconomic policies while increasing infrastructure spending through his economic team's 10-point socio-economic agenda. To attract more investors by easing restrictions on international retailers, Duterte signed into law amendments to both the Foreign Investment Act of 1991 and the 85-year old Public Service Act. His administration took initiatives to support micro-enterprise, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by launching a microfinance program as an alternative to predatory private loans and significantly increasing the creation of Negosyo Centers that provide efficient services for MSMEs. To address rising inflation following the devastation caused by Typhoon Ompong in September 2018, Duterte signed an administrative order removing non-tariff barriers on agricultural imports. In February 2019, he signed a law updating the 38-year-old Corporation Code of the Philippines to allow a single person to form a corporation. After several more reforms such as the Ease of Doing Business law, the Philippines' Ease of doing business index, ease-of-doing-business ranking improved from 124th to 95th, according to the World Bank's 2020 Doing Business Report.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic caused the Philippine economy to enter a COVID-19 recession, recession following government lockdowns and restrictions. Gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by 9.5% in 2020, prompting the administration to loosen restrictions to revive the economy. GDP recovered to 5.6% in 2021 after the administration initiated a COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, nationwide vaccination drive and eased pandemic-related restrictions; simultaneously, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 39.6% in pre-pandemic 2020 to 60.4% as of June 2021 due to loans incurred by the government to address the pandemic.
On March 21, 2022, Duterte signed an executive order adopting a 10-point policy agenda to hasten economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. To reduce the National debt of the Philippines, country's debt, which rose to ₱12.68 trillion as of March 2022, in May that year, the Duterte administration's economic team proposed to the incoming Presidency of Bongbong Marcos, Marcos administration a fiscal consolidation plan containing corrective tax measures including the expansion of value-added tax to raise government revenues. By the second quarter of 2022, the Philippine economy had grown by 7.4%, making the country the second-fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia.
Infrastructure development
To reduce poverty, encourage economic growth, and reduce congestion in Metro Manila, the Duterte administration launched Build! Build! Build!; a comprehensive infrastructure program, on April 18, 2017. The program was part of DuterteNomics, the administration's socioeconomic policy, which aimed to start a "Golden Age of Infrastructure" by increasing spending on public infrastructure from 5.4% of the country's GDP in 2017 to 7.4% in 2022. In 2017, the administration shifted its infrastructure funding policy from public-private partnerships (PPPs) of previous administrations to government revenues and official development assistance (ODA), particularly from Japan and China. From October 2019, the government worked with the private sector to provide additional funding. In November 2019, the administration revised its list of Infrastructure Flagship Projects (IFPs) under the Build, Build, Build program from 75 to 100, then to 104, and to 112 in 2020, expanding its scope to health, information-and-communications technology, and water infrastructure projects to support the country's economic growth and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic. Some major projects included the Subic-Clark Railway, the North–South Commuter Railway from New Clark City to Calamba, Laguna, the Metro Manila Subway Line 9, Metro Manila Subway, the expansion of Clark International Airport the Mindanao Railway (Tagum-Davao-Digos Segment), and the Luzon Spine Expressway Network By April 2022, 12 IFPs had been completed while 88, which were at an advanced stage, were passed to the succeeding administration for completion. From June 2016 to July 2021, of roads, 5,950 bridges, 11,340 flood-control projects, 222 evacuation centers, 150,149 school classrooms, and 653 COVID-19 facilities were completed.Taxation
The Duterte administration initiated a comprehensive tax reform program. The program's first package the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law (TRAIN Law) adjusted tax rates by excluding those earning an annual taxable income of ₱250,000 from paying personal income tax; the law also raised excise taxes on vehicles, sugar-sweetened beverages, petroleum products, and tobacco and other non-essential goods to generate funds for the administration's massive infrastructure program. The second package, the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE Act), lowered corporate income tax from 30% to 25% to attract investment and maintain fiscal stability. Sin taxes on tobacco, vapor products, alcohol, and electronic cigarettes were raised to fund the Universal Health Care Act, and reduce incidents of smoking-related and alcohol-related diseases. A tax amnesty Duterte signed into law in February 2019 granted errant taxpayers a one-time opportunity to affordably settle their tax liabilities while raising government revenue for infrastructure and social projects.
Duterte signed a law imposing a 5% tax on gross gaming revenues of Philippine offshore gaming operator, offshore gaming operatorss. In March 2019, he signed a law excluding Artisanal mining, small-scale miners from paying income and excise taxes on gold they sell to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, central bank.
Trade
On September 2, 2021, Duterte ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, an ASEAN-led free trade agreement involving 10 ASEAN members and Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand; the agreement was sent to the Senate but the Senate's 2022 Philippine general election, May 2022 election break delayed ratification. In June 2022, the Senate deferred the agreement's ratification to the incoming 19th Congress of the Philippines, 19th Congress after some senators raised concerns over the lack of safeguards for the country's agricultural sector, and to provide an opportunity for president-elect Bongbong Marcos to review the agreement.Education
Stressing that the long-term benefits of education would outweigh any budgetary problems, in August 2017, Duterte signed Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, a landmark law granting free tuition at all state universities and colleges (SUCs). He enacted laws which institutionalized the Alternative Learning System (Philippines), alternative learning system (ALS); mandated free access to TVET (technical and vocational education and training), technical-vocational education; granted inclusive education for disabled learners; accorded medical scholarships for deserving students in higher education; established a scholarship program for students on teacher-degree programs; instituted a career-guidance and counselling program for all secondary schools; and created the country's National Academy of Sports (Philippines), National Academy of Sports in New Clark City. In education curriculum, significant laws he signed included restoring Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education in the K-12 basic education; establishing Transnational education, transnational higher education that allows foreign universities to offer degree programs in the Philippines; integrating labor education in the higher-education curriculum; requiring the creation of curricula concerning energy-efficient, sustainable technologies; and declaring Filipino Sign Language as the national sign language and including it as a subject in the curriculum for deaf students.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2020, Duterte rejected the resumption of face-to-face classes in COVID-19 low-risk areas until vaccines became available in the country, saying he would not risk endangering students and teachers. On October 5, 2020, the Department of Education (Philippines), Department of Education (DepEd) reopened classes, implementing distance learning, distance and blended learning. Prompted by the detrimental effects of distance learning on students' mental health, in September 2021, Duterte approved a two-month pilot test of limited, face-to-face classes in COVID-19 low-risk areas; in January 2022, he approved the DepEd's suggestion to expand face-to-face classes.
By the end of Duterte's term, 1.97 million students in 220 higher education institutions were granted free tuition from the academic years (AYs) 2018-2019 up until AY 2021–2022, while 364,168 grantees used tertiary-education subsidies and benefits from the administration's ''Tulong Dunong Program'' in the same period.
Energy
Early in Duterte's presidency, his administration adopted a "technology neutral" policy in energy and refused to end the use of coal because the Philippines' carbon footprint was not significant compared to those of more-developed Western nations. After Duterte in July 2019 issued a directive to cut coal dependence and fast-track a transition to renewable energy, in October 2020, the administration ended its energy neutrality policy and issued a moratorium on the construction of new coal-fired power plants. To improve the electrification and power-generating capacity of the country, Duterte signed a law promoting the use of microgrid systems in unserved and under-served areas, and established the inter-agency Energy Investment Coordinating Council, which was tasked with simplifying the approval process of major projects. The administration pursued the liberalization of the energy sector; in October 2020, the Philippines started allowing 100% foreign ownership in large-scale geothermal energy, geothermal projects. The administration sought new energy sources and partnered with foreign companies to study the use of hydrogen energy, hydrogen as an energy source. In October 2020, with the impending depletion of the Malampaya gas field, Duterte approved the Department of Energy (Philippines), Department of Energy's (DOE) recommendation to lift the moratorium on oil-and-gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea imposed by President Benigno Aquino III in 2012. In February 2022, Duterte signed an executive order approving the inclusion of nuclear power in the country's energy mix. In September 2021, the DOE reported the country's energy capacity increased from 21,424 megawatts in 2016 to 26,287 megawatts in 2020, and household-electrification level rose from 90.7% in 2016 to 94.5% in 2020.Environment
Duterte signed the Paris Agreement, Paris Agreement on Climate Change in March 2017. He declared parts of the Philippine Rise as a marine protected area, and significantly increased the number of National parks of the Philippines, protected areas in the country by signing the E-NIPAS Act of 2018. Duterte in April to May 2019 escalated Canada–Philippines waste dispute, a waste dispute with Canada, which led Canada to repatriate tons of refuse it sent to Philippines in 2013 and 2014. Under Duterte's presidency, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (Philippines), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) completed the closure of all 335 landfill, open dumpsites in the country and subsequently required local authorities to convert the dumpsites into Landfill restoration, sanitary landfills. Duterte in May 2017 appointed former military chief Roy Cimatu as the DENR secretary to replace his first appointee, environmental activist Gina Lopez, after the Commission on Appointments rejected Lopez's reappointment; Lopez was criticized following her decision to close 23 mining operations in functional drainage basin, watersheds and suspend six others in February 2017. To boost the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic-afflicted economy, in April 2021, Duterte lifted the nine-year moratorium on new mining agreements imposed by the Aquino administration in 2012; Cimatu in December 2021 repealed the ban on open-pit mining on copper, gold, silver, and complex ores imposed by Lopez in 2017. Following Duterte's directive to investigate reports of illegal logging and mining, in January 2021, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Eduardo Año ordered the Philippine National Police to begin a campaign against illegal logging.Boracay and Manila Bay cleanup
After incidences of pollution in Boracay island, the country's most popular tourism destination, peaked in January 2018, Duterte in April that year 2018 Boracay closure, ordered a six-year month closure of the island to address the dumping of raw sewage in its waters. The closure began on April 26. Duterte created the Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force (BIATF) to administer the cleanup and later issued an executive order extending the BIATF's term until the end of his presidency to ensure the completion of the cleanup plan. The Duterte administration set a limit of 6,000 visitors per day, based on the island's capacity, following Boracay's reopening to the public on October 26, 2018.
Following the Boracay cleanup, in early 2019, Duterte directed DENR and DILG secretaries Cimatu and Año to initiate the cleanup of Manila Bay, threatening to shut down hotels along the bay if they did not install water treatment systems. Shortly after the cleanup started on January 27, Duterte created the Manila Bay Task Force to hasten the cleanup task. As part of the bay's rehabilitation, in September 2020, the DENR began overlaying crushed dolomite (rock), dolomite rock on Manila Bay Beach, a portion of Manila Bay to create an artificial beach; the move drew criticism from environmental advocates and the opposition but support from the general public. Coliform index, Coliform levels in several parts of the bay significantly declined since the cleanup.
Amid imminent land reclamation projects in Manila Bay in February 2019, Duterte signed an executive order transferring the power to approve reclamation projects from the National Economic and Development Authority to the Philippine Reclamation Authority, which he placed under the Office of the President of the Philippines, Office of the President. Favoring government-related reclamation projects in the bay, he rejected private-sector proposals, citing the damage they would cause to the city. Toward the end of his presidency, he ordered the DENR to stop the processing of applications for all reclamation projects in the country, saying massive land-reclamation proposals are "nothing but a breeding ground for corruption".
Health
Duterte promised to improve the Health care in the Philippines, country's health care system, signing several health-related bills into law. The Universal Health Care Act he signed in February 2019 facilitated the automatic enrollment of all Filipinos under the government's PhilHealth, health insurance program; by May 2022, over 111 million Filipinos were reportedly covered by these plans. Duterte tasked the Department of Health (DOH) with developing a nationally integrated program to prevent and treat cancer, a leading cause of death in the Philippines. The Philippine Mental Health Law established a national policy to improve Mental health in the Philippines, mental health services in the country and protect the rights of persons using psychiatric, neurologic, and psycho-social health services. Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS health services were made more accessible through a law enacted in December 2018. A law signed in December 2019 institutionalized the Malasakit Center, a "one-stop shop" for health concerns, in all hospitals run by the DOH; a total of 151 centers have been established by May 2022. Nationwide smoking ban order (Philippines), Smoking in public places was banned, and the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics was regulated through executive orders issued by Duterte. Duterte signed a law establishing a national feeding program for undernourished children in all public schools. He expanded health and nutrition services for pregnant women and all infants during their first 1,000 days. An executive order signed by Duterte created an inter-agency task force to formulate a National Food Policy that included a plan to eliminate hunger. In 2017, Duterte launched a ₱1 billion medical program to provide free medicines, prosthesis, prostheses, assistive devices, radiology, and chemotherapy assistance to indigent citizens. It was funded under the Office of the President of the Philippines, Office of the President's socio-civic projects fund. To make medicines more affordable, Duterte ordered a price cap for select medicines; another executive order issued in December 2021 enforced stricter price regulation of drugs and medicines for the leading causes of death in the country.COVID-19 pandemic
Following the first confirmed case of "novel coronavirus 2019" in the Philippines, on January 31, 2020, Duterte ordered a temporary ban on the entry of Chinese nationals from China's Hubei province, and in February, he expanded the ban to the whole of China. On March 8, he declared a State of Public Health Emergency throughout the country due to the COVID-19; four days later, he ordered a lockdown in Metro Manila. On March 16, he declared a State of National Calamity for the next six months; a day later, he Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, placed Luzon under Enhanced Community Quarantine, resulting in the temporary closure of borders and, and the suspension of work and public transport. On March 24, Congress passed the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act (Bayanihan 1), which Duterte signed the following day; under the law, the President was granted the authority to realign the 2020 national budget to address the COVID-19 crisis and to temporarily direct the operations of private establishments such as private hospitals, hotels, and public transport. The administration purchased and distributed medical equipment and supplies. On March 30, 2020, the DOH purchased one million items of personal protective equipment (PPE) worth 1.8 billion for COVID-19 health workers, prompting the Senate to call for a probe on overpricing. On May 20, Duterte took full responsibility for the procurement of PPE, saying he ordered health secretary Francisco Duque III to expedite the procurement of PPE regardless of cost to prevent compromising of the health workers' safety. The DTI also boosted local production of medical equipment through its Shared Service Facility Fabrication Laboratories project. Amid a Senate investigation that was headed by Senator Dick Gordon (politician), Richard Gordon of a Pharmally scandal, scandal involving the government's purchase of alleged overpriced medical supplies from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., Duterte barred Cabinet members from attending the hearings, which he called an overlong impediment to the government's pandemic response efforts. In February 2022, the Senate draft report on the investigation recommended filing charges against Pharmally and government officials involved in the transactions, including Duterte, on grounds he "betrayed public trust" when he appointed Michael Yang, who was linked to the scandal, as presidential advisor. Duterte ignored the report, saying he would not waste Filipinos' time in reacting to the Senate panel's recommendation. The seven-month-long investigation ended with the adjournment of the 18th Congress of the Philippines, 18th Congress in June 2022; the report failed to reach the Senate Plenary session, plenary for deliberation after it was signed by nine senators out of the 11 required signatures. Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Sherwin Gatchalian refused to sign the report after it implicated Duterte in the scandal.
The administration started its COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, COVID-19 vaccination program on March 1, 2021, a day after the arrival of the country's first vaccine doses, which the Chinese government donated. Under the program, priority was given to medical workers, senior citizens, and persons with co-morbidities. The administration initially had a target of vaccinating 90 million Filipinos before Duterte's term ended but lowered it to between 77 million and 80 million in April 2022 due to persisting vaccine hesitancy. By early June 2022, over 245 million vaccine doses had been secured by the administration, of which 151.2 million had been administered. By the end of Duterte's term in office, 70.5 million people had been fully vaccinated; over 3.7 million COVID-19 cases in the country had been recorded during his presidency since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, with over 3.69 million recoveries and 8,706 (0.23%) active cases.
Housing and urban development
In February 2019, Duterte merged the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board to create the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), which was tasked with centralizing processing of housing documents at One stop shop, one-stop shops. The DHSUD reported in October 2021 the Duterte administration financed and built 1,076,277 housing units from 2016 to 2021, the highest yearly output average of housing units per year since 1975. On March 8, 2017, an estimated 12,000 people led by members of militant urban-poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) Pandi housing project occupation, illegally occupied about 5,000 housing units in government housing projects in Pandi, Bulacan. These projects were intended for National Housing Authority (Philippines), National Housing Authority (NHA) beneficiaries, Squatting, informal settlers displaced from danger zones in Metro Manila, and Uniformed services, uniformed personnel. Duterte initially said he would not tolerate the illegal occupation, which he described as anarchy, and that the issue should be resolved through communication. The NHA issued eviction notices but failed to evict the occupants from the housing units, prompting Duterte to permit the illegal dwellers to continue occupying the units if they did not unhouse military and police officers in the process. In June 2018, after Kadamay members attempted to occupy another housing project in Rizal, Duterte ordered the Philippine National Police to prevent the takeover. In March 2022, the government started its first housing project for Indigenous peoples of the Philippines, indigenous peoples.Labor
Effort vs. contractualization
Duterte campaigned to phase out Endo contractualization, contractualization (locally known as "endo", derived from "end of contract") and improve labor policies in the Philippines. In 2017, he and Department of Labor and Employment secretary Silvestre Bello III proposed a new policy to end labor-only contractualization but Bello declined to sign it, seeking input from labor groups. On March 16, Bello signed Department Order 174, which sets stricter guidelines on endo without outlawing it. Duterte continued his stand against the practice, promising to sign an executive order against it; however, Battle of Marawi, terrorist attacks perpetuated by the Maute group in Marawi City delayed the signing. Labor groups organized a rally on March 15, 2018, in protest against the president's postponement. On May 1, Duterte signed Executive Order No. 51, prohibiting illegal contracting and subcontracting; labor groups expressed dissatisfaction because the terms of the agreement had changed since negotiation. Malacañang Palace, Malacañang said it was powerless to enforce the ban and that lawmakers would have to amend the Labor Code of the Philippines for endo to be abolished. On September 21, 2018, Duterte certified a Senate bill prohibiting labor-only contracting that was stated to benefit over 40 million workers. Several business groups urged Duterte to veto the bill, which they said was redundant and would force businesses to adopt automation and artificial intelligence, and that the bill violated the constitutional rights of businesses. In July 2019, Duterte vetoed the Security of Tenure Bill, which he said broadened the scope and definition of illegal "labor-only contracting", and prohibited legitimate forms of contractualization favorable to employees; he added "our goal, however, has always been to target the abuse, while leaving businesses free to engage in those practices beneficial to both management and the workforce". Employers welcomed the decision but some labor groups criticized it as a failure to deliver a campaign promise. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines blamed business groups for using "scare tactics" of impending disinvestment if the bill was to pass. In November 2019, the labor department reported employers had regularized over 564,000 contractual workers as part of the administration's effort to end contractualization.Support for migrant workers
Duterte promised to prioritize the labor concerns of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). He created the Department of Migrant Workers to improve coordination among government agencies concerned with OFW affairs, the Overseas Filipino Bank, and the Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital. In August 2017, he signed a law extending the validity of Philippine passports from five years to ten years.
Bilateral agreements increasing protections and opportunities for OFWs were reached with 26 countries, including Cambodia, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Romania, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Duterte administration launched OFW centers, which provide centralized government front-line services for employment documents. Starting September 2016, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration exempted OFWs returning to their jobs or same employers abroad from paying travel tax, securing overseas employment certificates, and paying the agency's processing fee. In November 2018, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) launched the OFW E-Card, a new identification card allowing OFWs faster access to OWWA resources, including welfare services, scholarships, training programs, and social benefits.
Duterte called for the abolition of the exploitative kafala system affecting millions of OFWs employed in Gulf countries. Following the death of Filipina maid Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found inside a freezer in Kuwait, 2018 Kuwait–Philippines diplomatic crisis, a dispute between the two countries occurred. Duterte issued a deployment ban to Kuwait in February 2018 and thousands of OFWs in Kuwait were repatriated. On May 11, 2018, the two countries signed the Agreement on the Employment of Domestic Workers between the Philippines and Kuwait, which recognized certain rights of OFWs employed as servants and maids in Kuwait.
On January 15, 2020, following the alleged killing of Jeanelyn Villavende in Kuwait by her employer, the Philippines approved a ban on the deployment of workers to Kuwait . The Philippines and Kuwait signed an agreement on the proposed standard employment contract for OFWs in Kuwait on February 5, 2020. The standard contract contained regulations endorsed by Duterte; these regulations allowed OFWs to keep their passports and cellphones, mandated one Paid time off, day off with pay, and designated working and sleeping hours for the OFWs.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022, the Duterte administration repatriated more than one million OFWs and provided them free COVID-19 testing, food, and accommodation in Metro Manila.
Salary increases and employee benefits
During his presidency, Duterte approved the raising of salaries of government employees, including military, police, and other uniformed personnel. Through the Salary Standardization Law of 2019, salaries of government workers, including teachers and nurses, were increased in four tranches from 2020 to 2023. A law signed in April 2022 granted a Shift work, night-shift differential pay to all government employees at a rate not exceeding 20% of the hourly basic rate of the employee. In February 2019, Duterte signed a law extending parental leave, paid maternity leave for female workers from 60 days to 105 days.National identification system
According to Duterte, transactions would be simpler and faster through the use of a national identity system. On August 6, 2018, he signed into law the Philippine Identification System Act (PhilSys Law), seeking to integrate government IDs into a single identification card for all citizens and foreign residents in the country. On February 14, 2022, he issued an executive order institutionalizing Philippine national identity card, the national ID card as sufficient proof of identity and age in all forms of transactions, eliminating the need to present additional identity documents.
The PhilSys project gained public support, but its implementation was delayed by pandemic restrictions and management issues and within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. By June 2022, 66.48 million Filipinos have completed the Step 2 registration process involving validation of supporting documents and biometric captures, while the Philippine Statistics Authority delivered 11.53 million ID cards to registrants through the Philippine Postal Corporation.
Social issues
Land reform
During his presidential campaign, Duterte called the land reform program of the Aquino administration a "total failure", and promised to provide support services alongside land distribution to farmers. On July 5, 2016, a few days after Duterte's presidential inauguration, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) opened the gates of its main office in Quezon City after twenty years of being barricaded shut to prevent protesters from storming it. Following the 2018 Boracay closure, Boracay cleanup, Duterte distributed 623 certificates of land-ownership award covering of land in Boracay and Aklan to the area's Ati people, Ati inhabitants and other beneficiaries. In February 2019, Duterte ordered all government agencies to identify government-owned land that could be distributed to agrarian-reform beneficiaries. By August 2021, under the Duterte administration, the DAR had distributed of land among 405,800 farmers.Poverty alleviation
The Duterte administration has sought to lift six million Filipinos out of poverty. Duterte issued his first executive order directing the Cabinet Secretariat of the Philippines, cabinet secretary to supervise 12 government agencies under the Office of the President (Philippines), Office of the President to evaluate and reform existing poverty reduction programs. On October 5, 2016, he signed his fifth executive order, adopting AmBisyon Natin 2040, Ambisyon Natin 2040 as the 25-year economic development plan for the Philippines with the aim of making the Philippines "a prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no one is poor" by 2040. In April 2019, Duterte enacted three anti-poverty laws; the Magna Carta of the Poor, which aimed to increase the quality of life of poor Filipinos; the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Act, which institutionalized a program providing conditional cash transfer to poor households for up to seven years; and the Community-based Monitoring System Act, which adopted a community-based monitoring system in every city and municipality to improve poverty analysis. In December 2019, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported nearly six million Filipinos were no longer in poverty as the government raised its spending on social welfare; a poverty incidence of 23.3% in 2015 had dropped to 16.6% in 2018. Administration efforts to further lower the poverty rate by the end of 2022 were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines, quarantine measures and leading to an increase in unemployment. During this time, the number of impoverished Filipinos rose from 22.26 million in 2019 to 26.14 million in early 2021. In June 2020, the administration began to ease lockdown to encourage economic activity, and address hunger and unemployment, distributing cash aid to millions of poor and low-income families during the lockdowns. On May 21, 2021, Duterte signed a law extending the electricity Subsidy, lifeline rates for the poor for 50 years.Family planning and child welfare
The Duterte administration strengthened the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, 2012 Reproductive Health Law as part of its 10-point socioeconomic agenda. The law had not yet been implemented due to a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court. On January 9, 2017, Duterte signed an executive order providing funds and support for modern family planning, and ordered the full implementation of the law. Duterte enacted several laws protecting minors from abuse and exploitation. He signed laws that criminalized child marriage, raised the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, and required the government to provide special protection to children in armed conflict. In September 2019, he issued an executive order creating the National Council Against Child Labor. He signed a law in May 2022 promoting the rights of abandoned children with unknown parents and recognizing them as natural-born Filipino citizens. Duterte signed a law simplifying the country's Adoption in the Philippines, adoption process and establishing the National Authority for Child Care.Revised water concession agreements
In March 2019, a Water crisis in Metro Manila, water shortage crisis severely affected Metro Manila, causing long queues to collect water rations. Duterte ordered the review of the 1997 water-concession agreements signed under the Presidency of Fidel Ramos, Ramos administration with private water companies Maynilad and Manila Water, saying the agreements were onerous to both the government and the public. That November, a Singapore-based arbitration court in November 2019 ruled the government had to pay billions of pesos to both companies as compensation for losses from rejected water-rate hikes. Duterte refused to pay and threatened to sue the two firms for economic plunder. Following the Department of Justice (Philippines), Department of Justice's discovery of 12 "onerous provisions" that favored the companies, Duterte ordered Solicitor General of the Philippines, Solicitor General Jose Calida and Department of Finance (Philippines), Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III to write a new water-concession contract favorable to the public and the government, and ordered the two firms to accept or face expropriation. The two firms agreed to waive the refund from the government, and, in 2021, signed the revised agreement, which removed government non-interference clauses and the firms' authority to charge corporate income tax to consumers. In January 2022, Duterte signed new franchises for Maynilad and Manila Water, allowing the firms to continue operating for another 25 years. Under the new franchise laws, the President is allowed to temporarily take over and operate the firms during a period of war, rebellion, calamity, emergency, and disaster.Compensation and incentives
Duterte approved, in January 2017, a 1,000 increase in the Social Security System (Philippines), Social Security System pension. He signed legislation raising the old-age pension for living Filipino veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; providing incentives for Filipino scientists abroad to return and share their expertise; granting tax-free compensation to Battle of Marawi, Marawi Siege victims and mandatory, continued benefits to all frontline workers during public-health emergencies; granting benefits to the surviving spouse and children of deceased, retired prosecutors of the National Prosecution Service; and, strengthening the ''Sangguniang Kabataan'' and granting monthly honoraria to barangay youth-council officials. To decongest Metro Manila and promote development in other regions, Duterte issued an executive order institutionalizing the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program, which provides incentives such as transportation, cash aid, skills training, and low-cost housing to qualifying people wishing to return to their provinces. In his last month in office, he doubled the cash incentives for Filipino medalists in the 31st Southeast Asian Games, and allowed a bill granting additional benefits and coverage to solo parents to lapse into law.Gambling policy
Duterte has expressed disdain for gambling. Early in his term, he announced his intention to stop all online gambling operations in the country. In January 2018, he ordered the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to stop accepting new casino applications. In August that year, he dismissed the entire board of the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) for approving an onerous casino deal, ordering the Department of Justice to review the contract between the NPF and Chinese casino operator Landing Resorts Philippines Development Corp.; Duterte said the contract was disadvantageous to the government due to its low rental payments and lengthy lease. Duterte declined China's request to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) because of the industry's contribution to the economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic, he allowed gambling operations in the country to raise COVID-19 response funds, lifting the ban on casinos he imposed in 2018 on Boracay Island following 2018 Boracay closure and redevelopment, the island's cleanup and initially rejecting calls to terminate ''e-sabong'' (online cockfighting) operations amid 2021–2022 Philippines sabungeros disappearance, the disappearance of more than 30 cockfight enthusiasts. From 2016 through 2021, the PAGCOR earned 373.33 billion in revenues, of which 238.74 was remitted to the government; 150.16 billion was remitted to the National Treasury and was used to fund the Universal Health Care Act, while 360 million was remitted to the Dangerous Drugs Board.Space
Recognizing the "urgent need to create a coherent and unified strategy for space development and utilization to keep up with other nations", Duterte signed a law creating the Philippine Space Agency, to serve as the central government agency addressing national issues and activities related to space, science, and technology applications. The Department of Science and Technology (Philippines), Department of Science and Technology, led by Secretary Fortunato de la Peña, in collaboration with Japanese institutions, launched three satellites into space under the STAMINA4Space program: the Maya-1 nanosatellite, on June 29, 2018; the Diwata-2 microsatellite, on October 29, 2018; and the Maya-2 nanosatellite, on February 21, 2021.Telecommunications
In his fifth State of the Nation address in July 2020, Duterte warned the major telecommunications companies Globe Telecom and Smart Communications to improve their services by December or risk facing closure. Duterte urged telecommunications firms to report local officials delaying the approval of permits for cell-site construction, after the firms said red tape and non-standardized requirements made it difficult for them to build towers. In compliance with Duterte's order, the Department of the Interior and Local Government simplified the application process for the construction of shared cellular sites, shortening it to 16 days; local government units also complied with Duterte's order. Globe Telecom and Smart Communications have since improved their services. In February 2022, average fixed broadband download speeds rose from 7.91 Mbit/s to 82.61 Mbit/s, a 944% increase; average Mobile web, mobile internet speeds increased 467% at 42.22 Mbit/s from 7.44 Mbit/s since the start of the Duterte administration.
Duterte campaigned to break up the telecom duopoly of Globe and Smart due to the companies' poor mobile network services and internet speeds. 2018 Philippine third telecommunications provider bidding, Bidding was held in November 2018 to determine a third major telecommunications provider in the country; Dito Telecommunity, which was then known as Mislatel Consortium, provisionally won the bid on November 7. Duterte formally awarded the company its certificate of public convenience and necessity in July 2019. On March 9, 2021, Dito Telecommunity began commercial operations, becoming the Philippines' third telecommunications company, and soon received a 25-year franchise.
In March 2017, Duterte approved the National Broadband Program (NBP) that was developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Despite a small budget, the DICT and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority completed the Luzon Bypass Infrastructure, an ultra-high-speed system for Submarine communications cable, international submarine cables that avoided the earthquake-prone Luzon Strait.
Duterte and his administration were ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy, embroiled in controversy following the cessation of TV and radio broadcast operations of ABS-CBN, the largest media network in the country. Duterte expressed displeasure at the media network following its failure to air his political advertisements for which Rodrigo Duterte 2016 presidential campaign, his 2016 election campaign had paid; during the same period, the network aired Senator Antonio Trillanes' advertisements, showing clips of Duterte speaking about issues of rape and murder. Duterte said he would not allow the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to grant ABS-CBN a permit unless the firm paid its alleged tax debt. In February 2020, a few months before its legislative franchise expired, ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak issued an apology to Duterte for failing to air his political advertisements, offering to return the remaining 2.6 million in advertisement funds. Duterte accepted the apology and declined the refund, and distanced himself from the franchise-renewal issue, saying he had no control over the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of Representatives or Solicitor General Jose Calida, who earlier filed a ''quo warranto'' petition before the Supreme Court, seeking to invalidate ABS-CBN's franchise due to an alleged violation of the 1987 Constitution regarding foreign ownership. Following the expiry of its legislative franchise on May 4, ABS-CBN ceased its broadcast operations; the following day, the NTC issued a cease-and-desist order. On July 10, the Philippine House Committee on Legislative Franchises, House Committee on Legislative Franchises, in a 70-to-11 vote, declined the media network's application for a new 25-year franchise, citing issues with the dual citizenship of its chairman emeritus Eugenio Lopez III, a possible violation of constitutional limits on foreign ownership, reported tax and labor violations, and allegations of biased reporting and political meddling. Opposition politicians, media groups, academic institutions, and church leaders condemned the broadcast shutdown and the franchise-renewal denial. Calida called the cease-and-desist order "a triumph of the rule of law".
Duterte signed laws requiring the government to provide free internet access in public places and allowing mobile users to permanently keep their numbers. In March 2021, to improve internet access, he issued an executive order granting telecommunication companies access to satellite services. By March 2022, 7,977 WiFi operational sites in public areas nationwide were established under the Free WiFi for All program while the completion rate of the first phase of the NBP was at 73.5%.
Tourism development
Transportation
On June 19, 2017, the Department of Transportation (Philippines), Department of Transportation (DOTr) launched the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program to modernize the transportation in the Philippines, country's public transportation system with an emphasis on sustainability. The program phased out 15-year-old and older jeepneys and other public utility vehicles (PUVs), replacing them with safer, more-efficient vehicles, which were required to have at least a Euro4-compliant engine or an electric engine to lessen pollution. Under the program, PUV operators with existing franchises were encouraged to consolidate into a single legal group of at least 15 units. On June 28, 2019, the DOTr and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority launched the ''Tsuper Iskolar'' program, providing scholarships and training to public-transport drivers. Duterte campaigned to solve the long-standing Traffic in Metro Manila, traffic problem in Metro Manila, particularly in EDSA, requesting from Congress emergency powers to bypass bidding procedures and hasten the resolution of right-of-way issues. At least three bills granting Duterte emergency powers were filed in the House of Representatives (Philippines), House of Representatives. The House approved a bill but it did not progress in the Senate, prompting Duterte to abandon the plan, citing the lack of support from Congress and insufficient time. In his fourth State of the Nation Address in July 2019, Duterte ordered the clearing of obstructions on public roads, instructing Department of the Interior and Local Government secretary Eduardo Año to suspend mayors and governors who failed to comply. Año gave mayors 60 days to clear illegal obstructions and illegally parked vehicles from all public roads and sidewalks. In October 2019, Año said: "based on the report from 1,246 LGUs, 6,899 roads around the country were cleared through the cooperation of the provincial, city and municipal governments"; 97 local government units failed to comply with Duterte's order and were given five days to explain their non-compliance. The DOTr created protected bike lanes in major metropolises. By the end of Duterte's term in office, of bike lane networks had been completed in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao. Duterte extended the validity of driver's licenses from three years to five and granted students riding PUVs a 20% fare discount. In April 2022, he allowed a bill regulating and developing the Philippines' electric vehicle industry to lapse into law. By 2022, under Duterte's Build! Build! Build! program, of roads and 6,854 bridges had been constructed, maintained, or upgraded; 579 commercial and social tourism ports had been developed; and 248 airport projects were completed.Other initiatives
Burial of Ferdinand Marcos
In 2016, Duterte said dictator Ferdinand Marcos's remains would be moved and interred at Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes' Cemetery), calling him a president, soldier, and hero. On November 18, 2016, Marcos was buried with full military honors at Heroes' Cemetery after the Supreme Court issued a verdict permitting it. The burial provoked national outrage, especially among those who had suffered Human rights abuses of the Marcos dictatorship, human rights abuses under the Marcos regime; protests were continuously held from November 18 to 30. Vice President Leni Robredo criticized the burial while Duterte expressed hope people could "find space in their hearts to forgive and set free those who have hurt or injured them".
Administrative division changes
In 2017, citing the need to prioritize funds for government programs and projects, Duterte revoked the 2015 executive order issued by President Aquino III creating Negros Island Region, effectively reverting Negros Occidental and the city of Bacolod to Western Visayas, Region VI, and Negros Oriental to Central Visayas, Region VII. In April 2019, he signed a law dividing Palawan province into three new provinces; Palawan del Norte, Palawan del Sur, and Palawan Oriental; the law failed to gain a majority of votes in 2021 Palawan division plebiscite, a plebiscite. A law he signed dividing Maguindanao into Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces was ratified in 2022 Maguindanao division plebiscite, a plebiscite on September 17, 2022. In April 2019, Duterte signed a law renaming Compostela Valley to Davao de Oro, a change that was overwhelmingly supported in 2019 Compostela Valley renaming plebiscite, a plebiscite. Duterte signed a law amending the Local Government Code of 1991, easing conversion of Municipalities of the Philippines, municipalities to Cities of the Philippines, component cities on the conditions the municipality earns million for two consecutive years and has either a land area of at least or a population of at least 150,000.Foreign affairs
The Duterte administration's foreign policy emphasized diplomacy and independence. This policy rejected interference by foreign governments; Duterte said: "We will observe and must insist on the time-honored principle of sovereignty, sovereign equality, non-interference and the commitment of peaceful settlements of dispute that will serve our people and protect the interests of our country".
ASEAN
Duterte placed great importance on the Philippines' diplomatic relations with its Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors. Following tradition, his first trips outside the country were to Laos on September 7, 2016, for the 49th ASEAN Leaders Summit, Indonesia on September 9, Vietnam on September 29, Malaysia on November 9, Cambodia on December 13, Singapore on December 15, Thailand on March 17, and Myanmar on March 19.
In 2017, the Philippines was chair and host to 2017 ASEAN Summits, the ASEAN summits; the culminating event was held in Manila on November 10–14 (31st summit). Duterte and other ASEAN leaders signed the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers, a landmark document that would ensure social protection of migrant workers in the ASEAN region; however, the consensus was silent on undocumented workers.
China and United States
Early in his presidential tenure, Duterte made efforts to distance the Philippines from the United States, and forge closer relationships with China and Russia, particularly in trade and commerce. In his first visit to China in October 2016, Duterte announced his "separation of a foreign policy" from the United States, and declared a realignment of the Philippines with China. Duterte said he intended to review the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which he said did not bear the signature of the Philippine president; a month earlier, he informed the United States the upcoming annual Balikatan exercise would be the last. After the U.S. State Department in November 2016 refused to sell 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippine police due to human rights violations concerns relating to the Philippine Drug War, drug war, Duterte sought to source weapons from China and Russia. In May 2017, Duterte expressed interest in conducting joint military exercises between the Philippine Armed Forces and China's People's Liberation Army in Mindanao, particularly in the Sulu Sea.
Seeking to avoid armed conflict, Duterte adopted a conciliatory and friendly stance towards China that was unlike his predecessor's antagonism toward it. In 2016, Duterte and Chinese president Xi Jinping created the biannual Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea, a process allowing the two nations to peacefully manage disputes and strengthen their relations. In May 2017, Duterte said Xi had threatened war if the Philippines tried to enforce the South China Sea Arbitration ruling and drill for oil in the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte also hoped a non-confrontational approach to China would eventually lead to joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea to support Build! Build! Build!. During Xi's first state visit to the country in November 2018, the Philippines and China signed 29 agreements, including cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative and a memorandum of understanding on joint oil-and-gas developments in the West Philippine Sea. In September 2019, Duterte said Xi had offered the Philippines a controlling stake in a gas deal in the Reed Tablemount, Reed Bank if the Philippines set aside the South China Sea Arbitration ruling.
In April 2017, Duterte ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to occupy and fortify several uninhabited islands in the South China Sea. Following the sighting of Chinese survey vessels, he ordered the Philippine Navy to build structures on Benham Rise to assert the Philippines' sovereignty over the region. A month later, he signed an executive order formally renaming Benham Rise to Philippine Rise.
Chinese aggression in the South China Sea strained the nations' relationship. In April 2017, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua called Philippine plans to repair Thitu Island, Thitu (Pag-asa) Island illegal. Between 2018 and 2020, China deployed hundreds of military vessels around Thitu Island to impede these repairs. In April 2019, following a military report at least 275 Chinese vessels had been monitoring the region since January, Duterte threatened to send Philippine soldiers on a "suicide mission" should China further encroach. In January 2021, China passed a law authorizing its coast guard to fire on foreign vessels as needed and in March, it Whitsun Reef incident, moored 220 Chinese vessels believed to be manned by the Chinese military at disputed Whitsun Reef. In response, Duterte authorized foreign-affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. to submit several diplomatic protests.
By June 2020, Duterte was gradually distancing the Philippines from China. In July that year, he called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines), Department of Foreign Affairs to demand China recognize the South China Sea Arbitration ruling. During the 75th United Nations General Assembly in September 2020, Duterte made one of his most vocal defenses of the Philippine victory in the arbitration case:
In January 2020, when the U.S. denied a visa for Senator Ronald dela Rosa due to his role as police chief during the Philippine Drug War, Philippine anti-drug war, Duterte moved to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Duterte repeatedly postponed the termination between June 2020 and June 2021, canceling it in July 2021 during U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's visit to the Philippines. Following criticism over vaccine-procurement delays during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duterte used the VFA as leverage for securing vaccines from the U.S.; in August 2021, he thanked the U.S. for its donations, which he said played a key role in his decision to keep the VFA.
In December 2020, the Philippines received military equipment worth (1.4 billion ($29 million) from the U.S. The countries made efforts to reinvigorate relations. This included high-level visits by commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, who affirmed the Mutual Defense Treaty (United States–Philippines), Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines, and Marine Corps Commandant David H. Berger. In September 2021, foreign-affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana met with counterparts in the U.S. to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines MDT. In the same month, Locsin welcomed the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, which he said could help balance the power in the Indo-Pacific region; days after, Duterte expressed concern the AUKUS deal could provoke a "nuclear arms race".
China played an important role in the early months of the COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines, Philippines' response to COVID-19. In February 2021, China became the first country to send the Philippines COVID-19 vaccines; Duterte said he had asked Xi for assistance in securing vaccines. On January 16, 2022, China donated 1 billion of non-combat military equipment, two days after the Philippines made a deal with India to buy the BrahMos, BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to improve its coastal defense.
In March 2022, Duterte warned trouble might occur if the next Philippine administration chose not to honor the memorandum of understanding with China on joint-exploration activities in the West Philippine Sea, after receiving a "reminder" from a man from China whom he did not identify. On June 24, six days before his term ended, Duterte ordered the complete termination of the planned joint oil exploration in the West Philippine Sea with China; Locsin stated in the three years since it was signed, the "objective of developing oil and gas resources so critical for the Philippines" had not been achieved.
Amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, Duterte pledged to open the country's facilities to American forces under the 1951 MDT if the conflict spreads to Asia.
Russia
Philippine-Russian relations improved during Duterte's presidency. On November 20, 2016, Duterte met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC Peru 2016, APEC summit in Lima, Peru; Duterte has praised Putin's leadership skills, calling him his "idol". Duterte stated the Philippines could seek stronger diplomatic cooperation with China and Russia "to make the world more peaceful" but that the Philippines was "not ready" for military alliances due to the United States-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty (United States–Philippines), Mutual Defense Treaty. The Russian government offered a strategic partnership with the Philippines and offered to assist the purchasing of Russian-made weaponry.
In May 2017, Duterte made his first state visit to Russia and met with Putin to finalize a defense-cooperation agreement between the nations but the visit was cut short when Battle of Marawi, Islamic militants attacked Marawi. In October the same year, the Philippines and Russia signed an agreement of defense and technical cooperation, which included a sales contract for the purchase of defense articles with Russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport; Russia donated thousands of rifles, helmets, and other military equipment to the Philippines.
On October 2, 2019, Duterte made his second state visit to Russia to discuss increasing security and defense cooperation. During the visit, Duterte received an honorary degree, honorary doctorate degree for international relations or foreign diplomacy from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2021, Duterte and Putin held a teleconference to discuss production and supply of coronavirus vaccines, defense, and trade opportunities; Duterte informed Putin of his plan to order 20 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. On May 1 that year, 15,000 Sputnik V vaccines purchased by the government arrived in the Philippines.
A few days after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the Philippines voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/1, a United Nations resolution, expressing "explicit condemnation" of the invasion. Duterte described Putin, whom he considers a friend, as "suicidal" and said the invasion deserved condemnation. He said the Philippines would remain neutral on the issue. Amid 2021–present global energy crisis, rising global oil prices brought about by the invasion, in May 2022, Duterte contradicted Putin's labeling of the invasion as a "special military operation", saying the invasion was a war waged against "a sovereign nation". A few days before he left office, Duterte approved his administration's cancellation of its order of 16 Mil Mi-17 military helicopters from Russia for fear of United States sanctions amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Support for refugees
Duterte expressed willingness to accept refugees such as Rohingya people fleeing Rohingya conflict, war and persecution in Myanmar, Afghan refugees, people fleeing Afghanistan to escape the 2021 Taliban offensive, Taliban's rule, and Ukrainian refugee crisis, Ukrainian refugees. On September 9, 2021, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. said the Philippines has welcomed Afghan refugees to the country since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan three weeks prior but provided no further details for the refugees' safety and privacy. On February 28, 2022, Duterte issued an executive order institutionalizing access to protection services for refugees, stateless persons, and asylum seekers.Impeachment attempt
On March 16, 2017, opposition politician Gary Alejano filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte citing thousands of deaths in Duterte's Philippine Drug War, anti-drug campaign, alleged leadership of vigilante group Davao Death Squad, and allegations of graft and corruption. Alejano, on March 30, filed a supplemental complaint over Duterte's alleged inaction and "defeatist stance" in the West Philippine Sea, Panatag Shoal, and Benham Rise. On May 15, the List of Philippine House of Representatives committees, House Justice Committee officially dismissed the charge by unanimous vote due to insufficient evidence after Alejano said he had no personal knowledge of the alleged offenses, having based his impeachment complaint on news reports and witness testimonies.Elections during the Duterte presidency
2019 mid-term election
Opposition alliance Otso Diretso promoted the 2019 mid-term election as a referendum on Duterte and his administration. Eight of the twelve candidates backed by Duterte's administration won Senate seats; Otso Diretso suffered a historic loss, failing to secure any seats.
2022 general election
In a June 8, 2021, interview, Duterte stated he would either remain neutral in the forthcoming 2022 Philippine presidential election or endorse a candidate. Duterte later stated he may run as vice president. In August that year, Duterte announced he would run as vice president; critics raised the possibility of him extending his term. The PDP–Laban Cusi faction fielded former Philippine National Police chief and Senator Ronald dela Rosa as president, who was widely suspected of being a Placeholder (politics), placeholder for Duterte's daughter, Davao City mayor Sara Duterte. On October 2, 2021, Duterte withdrew his candidacy and announced his retirement from politics, with long-time aide and Senator Bong Go replacing him as the vice-presidential candidate.
On November 13, 2021, hours after Sara unexpectedly decided to run as vice president under the Lakas–CMD party, dela Rosa withdrew and was replaced by Go. Duterte retracted his planned retirement and announced he would run for vice president as an expression of dismay for Sara's decision to enter the vice-presidential race when polls showed she was the preferred candidate for presidency. He later withdrew candidacy after deciding not to run against his daughter, and instead announced his intent to run as senator, while endorsing a Go–Sara team.
Sara, however, decided to partner with Bongbong Marcos, who announced his presidential candidacy in November 2021. Go expressed his disinterest in the presidency. On December 14, hours after Go withdrew his candidacy for president, Duterte withdrew his senate bid.
Duterte remained influential before the national elections because several presidential candidates were open to his endorsement due to his popularity. Allies of Duterte endorsed different candidates after the Cusi faction was left without a leader following Go's withdrawal. The PDP–Laban Cusi faction endorsed presidential candidate Marcos, with some officials calling for Duterte to do the same. Duterte, however, endorsed only Sara as vice president and 17 senatorial candidates, and said he would remain neutral, deciding not to endorse any presidential candidate and prohibiting his Cabinet members from campaigning for any candidate to avoid suspicion he would use public funds for his preferred successor's campaign; and to prevent cabinet members from compromising their integrity. Duterte said the next president should be decisive, compassionate, a good judge of character, and preferably a lawyer, which a PDP–Laban official interpreted as a "virtual endorsement" for his rival Vice President Leni Robredo, who also decided to run for president. In March 2022, Go said Duterte briefly met with Marcos and gave him advice on the presidency but could not say whether Duterte endorsed Marcos.
On May 5, 2022, Duterte created a Presidential transition of Bongbong Marcos#Duterte's transition committee, transition committee led by Executive Secretary (Philippines), Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to oversee the transition of power to the next administration. According to analysts, Duterte's popularity was "inherited" by Marcos and Sara, both of whom won landslides in the election.
Approval ratings
Duterte's approval rating remained relatively high throughout his presidency despite criticism and international opposition to his anti-narcotics drive. Two weeks into Duterte's presidency, on July 13, 2016, Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted the first approval survey since his inauguration; Duterte received an "excellent" trust rating of 79% among 1,200 Filipino adults. A week later, Pulse Asia released a poll conducted on July 2–8 showing 91% of Filipinos trusted Duterte, making him the most-trusted official in the Philippines since 1999. Duterte's net-satisfaction was at its lowest value 45% in July 2018; it recovered to 54% in September 2018 and 60% in December that year. By July 2019, halfway through his six-year term in office, Duterte had a record net-satisfaction rating of 68%. An April 2019 survey put his approval rating at 79%, higher than any of his predecessors at that stage in their presidencies. By December that year, his approval rating was 87% according to Pulse Asia; this was credited to poverty reduction and the successful hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, 2019 SEA Games. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, COVID-19 pandemic, a Pulse Asia September 2020 "''Ulat ng Bayan Survey''" ("Report to the Nation Survey"), showed 84% of Filipinos approved of the government's work to control the spread of COVID-19 and its assistance to those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic; 92% of survey respondents said Duterte has "done well" in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Duterte's SWS net-satisfaction rating rose to 60% in December 2021, higher than the 52% rating in September 2021, and slightly lower than the 62% rating in June 2021; the survey also noted higher net satisfaction among those vaccinated and those willing to be vaccinated. Duterte remained popular until the end of his term; according to a PUBLiCUS Asia survey conducted between March 30 to April 6, 2022, 67.2% of 1,500 respondents approved of his performance over the past 12 months while only 15.2% disapproved. A 2021 survey by WR Numero Research showed 54.59% of voters wanted soft continuity of Duterte's policies, 29.57% wanted full continuity, and 15.84% preferred change. Duterte left office with a net-satisfaction rating of 81%—his highest—according to an SWS survey held between June 26 to 29, 2022. A survey of 1,500 people conducted by PUBLiCUS Asia in June—Duterte's last month in office—showed he was the most-popular post-EDSA Revolution, EDSA president, with a 75% approval of his performance as president, while only 10% expressed disapproval.See also
* List of executive orders by Rodrigo Duterte * List of international presidential trips made by Rodrigo Duterte * List of major acts and legislation during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte * Philippine Drug War, Philippine War on Drugs * Political positions of Rodrigo Duterte * Protests against Rodrigo Duterte * Rodrigo Duterte 2016 presidential campaignReferences
Further reading
* *External links
*President Rodrigo Duterte's Inaugural Speech.
Radio TV Malacañang.
Philippines President Duterte's report card: Why he remains popular
{{authority control Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, Rodrigo Duterte Presidencies of the Philippines 2010s in the Philippines 2020s in the Philippines 2016 establishments in the Philippines 2022 disestablishments in the Philippines