Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in Thursday as president of the Philippines, with many hoping his maverick style will energize the country but others fearing he could undercut one of Asia’s liveliest democracies amid his threats to kill criminals en masse.
The 71-year-old former prosecutor and longtime mayor of southern Davao city won a resounding victory in May’s elections in his first foray into national politics. He has described himself as the country’s first leftist president and declared his foreign policy would not be dependent on the United States, a longtime treaty ally.
Duterte, who begins a six-year term as president, captured attention with promises to cleanse the poor Southeast Asian nation of criminals and government crooks within six months — an audacious pledge that was welcomed by many crime-weary Filipinos but alarmed human rights watchdogs and the dominant Roman Catholic Church.
Shortly after Duterte’s election win, police launched an anti-drug crackdown under his name, leaving dozens of mostly poor drug-dealing suspects dead in gunfights or in mysterious circumstances.
Vice President Leni Robredo, a human rights lawyer who comes from a rival political party, was sworn in earlier in a separate ceremony. Vice presidents are separately elected in the Philippines, and in a sign of Duterte’s go-it-alone style, he has not met her since the May 9 vote.
In a country long ruled by wealthy political clans, Duterte rose from middle-class roots. He built a reputation on the campaign trail with profanity-laced speeches, provocative jokes and curses that sideswiped even the widely revered pope and the United Nations.
His brash style has been likened to that of presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, although he detests the comparison and says the American billionaire is a bigot and he’s not.
Duterte is the first president to come from the country’s volatile south, homeland of minority Muslims and scene of a decades-long separatist insurgency, where he said his central Philippine-based family migrated in search of better opportunities.
His informal, down-to-earth demeanor and use of the local dialect and disclosures of his foibles has endeared him to the poor, which make up at least a quarter of the more than 100 million Filipinos.
After his resounding victory, he promised to mellow down on the vulgarity and promised Filipinos will witness a “metamorphosis” once he gets settled in the seat of power.
Days before his swearing in, however, Duterte was still threatening criminals with death if they wouldn’t reform.

Source: Arab News