among the Presidential candidates when he agreed to run. However, his opponents later withdrew when polls gave Duterte an unassailable lead.
Some 81 per cent of the 54 million Filipinos registered voters cast a ballot in the elections and it was a record turnout in the Philippines, with Duterte having about 39 per cent of the vote with a total of 16.6 million votes – some 6.6 million more than his closest rival Mar Roxas. He has huge mass appeal and a tough no nonsense attitude to crime and drug pushers in the country. Tis has made him popular in some respects, but also earned him titles such as ‘Duterte Harry’ and ‘Te Punisher’.
He transformed Davao into one of the most peaceful cities in the country after he took over as Mayor in 1988. But he is known for his iron fist rule and unconventional methods of fighting crime in Davao. He has been linked to the Davao Death Squad, which is alleged to be behind
several unsolved extrajudicial killings, whilst human rights groups documented over 1,400 killings by vigilante groups in Davao between 1998 and 2016, with victims mostly drug users, criminals and street children.
Apparently there has now been a marked increase in the number of killings of suspected criminals in the Philippines since Duterte took office. In the first three months of Duterte’s term, some 3,000 killings were attributed to his nationwide anti drug campaign. Te Philippine Daily Inquirer has since published a list of extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals who remain unidentified or only identified by an alias.
Duterte is a former law graduate with a political science degree and served as Davao Special Counsel then Assistant City Prosecutor in the late 1970s until the early 1980s.
Te outgoing president was Benigno ‘Noynoy’
Aquino and under his regime the Philippines has seen corruption, poverty and inequality, despite economic growth.
It is said some 40 to 80 per cent of Philippine legislators are connected to political dynasties with a vested interest, whilst a handful of families control most of the country’s wealth. Around 25 per cent of the population still live under the poverty line and this hasn’t changed for at least 20 years.
THE CASINO MARKET So what changes are in store for the gambling
market under the new Presidential rule?
In August 2016 it was announced that PAGCOR could be forced to offload its casinos when the Philippines Department of Finance said the country’s regulator should not operate public sector casinos. Back in December 2015 a similar call was made by the previous government who said PAGCOR’s casinos should be privatised
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
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