Rodrigo Duterte, the front-runner in the Philippines’ presidential election, said he would pardon himself and the death squads he led that allegedly killed 1,700 people.
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“I will issue 1,000 pardons a day”, he said, while referencing a law that lets the president to pardon himself.
Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes said the survey was concluded before Duterte’s remarks last week in which he joked he wanted to be the first to rape a lovely Australian missionary who was sexually assaulted and killed by inmates during a 1989 hostage-taking crisis in a Davao prison. I’m not impotent. What am I supposed to do?
Crass campaign talk, lurid accounts of libido and sex life, a promise to kill criminals in their thousands, street-smart defiance of big world powers, speeches laden with expletives and irreverence – these and more such expressions of base qualities have all but cleared the path to power for Philippines presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte.
“When I take Viagra, it stands up”.
The 71-year-old mayor said earlier on the campaign trail that he kept two mistresses but reassured tax payers they did not cost much because they lived in cheap boarding houses and he took them to short-time hotels to satisfy his sexual needs.
That effect has also shielded him from the fallout of his “rape comment” on the late Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill which drew the ire of many women’s groups and the Church which advised voters to choose leaders with decency.
“Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte”, he quipped, AFP reported.
Duterte last week joked that he had wanted to rape a “beautiful” Australian missionary, who was sexually assaulted and murdered by inmates in a 1989 prison riot in Davao. In response, he told them to “shut their mouths” and threatened to sever diplomatic ties with the nations when he becomes president. The senator added that Mayor Duterte did not declare the P211 million in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
“Why the hell didn’t Australia, the Americans or even Japan stop it?” he said.
But Mr Duterte has so far failed to outline his economic policies for the country that has shown strong growth under president Benigno Aquino, who is barred under the constitution from standing again.
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He also listed spending on health, education and agriculture as his other main priorities, and said that while a single six-year term may not be long enough, he would try to solve Manila’s chronic traffic problems with continued infrastructure investment.
