RODRIGO DUTERTE, the victor of the Philippines’ presidential election on Monday, says he is no Donald Trump.
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Duterte said that former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. would also be part of the Cabinet.
With 95.87 percent of polling precincts reporting as of Friday morning, Duterte leads the unofficial vote count with 15,915,762 votes (38.5 percent), way ahead of his closest rival Mar Roxas with 9,681,762 votes (23.5 percent), data from the Commission on Elections showed.
“The greatest promise the church can offer any government is vigilant collaboration, and that offer, we make now”. I asked who was coming. They said that it was the pope.
“To all who voted Duterte, I hope you’re ready to cut smoking, drink less alcohol, go home early and segregate trash”, tweeted university student Glenn Ong from the capital Manila.
Notwithstanding his bluster about flag-planting, Mr. Duterte could also undermine USA efforts to deter China’s attempts to enforce its far-reaching territorial claims.
The Philippines archipelago is some 80% Catholic, but Duterte is Protestant.
Much like Trump, Duterte’s campaign had a Teflon sheen that allowed the 71-year-old to get away with a number of controversial statements. But he upset even more people when he joked about wishing he’d been the first to rape an Australian woman who was sexually assaulted and murdered in a 1989 prison riot in the Philippines. His predecessor as president, Benigno Aquino III, has recently been active in reviving a more active US military role in the islands’ affairs in return for money and for helping the Philippines stand up to China’s ambitions in the region – in particular, the quarrel with China over the Spratly rocks and shoals in the South China Sea.
Mr Lavina said a schedule had not yet been set for the Vatican trip, although it was a top priority.
The camp of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has announced the members of the Duterte Transition Committee. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. A campaign finance head during the Duterte campaign, Dominguez previously served as a Cabinet secretary of former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos.
“At this point, all I can do is support the new government”, she said.
“I will issue 1,000 pardons a day”, Duterte said.
The seven-time mayor of the coastal city of Davao, Duterte has purportedly relied on so-called vigilante death squads to assassinate criminals. “I thought: “The mayor should have been first”, said Duterte, who on the campaign trail also repeatedly boasted about his mistresses and sexual prowess.
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A proud womanizer, Duterte has said he has “two wives and two girlfriends”.
