Rodrigo Duterte

Rodrigo Roa Duterte (born March 28, 1945), is a Filipino lawyer and politician. He is the incumbent and 16th President of the Philippines. He served as mayor of Davao City for 22 years (1988–1998, 2001–2010, 2013–2016).

Philippines Rodrigo Duterte in 2013

Quotes by Duterte

• Sabi nila diktador ako...so be it! (They say I'm a dictator, so be it!)
  • In an interview with GMA News' State of the Nation with Jessica Soho (May 26, 2015)

• I don't care If I go to hell as long as the people I serve will live in paradise.
  • "Duterte: Look ma, cheap shoes no socks" (August 5, 2015)

• Bakit ikaw ba pupunta ng Mexico ngayon? (Why will you go to Mexico now?) Could you enjoy going to Mexico with kidnappings and killings there?)
  • Duterte's 'oops' moment with the Mexican ambassador (April 8, 2016)

• Ang pumasok sa isip ko, ni-rape nila, pinagpilahan nila. Nagalit ako kasi ni-rape, oo, isa rin iyun. Pero napakaganda, dapat ang mayor muna ang mauna. Sayang. (Here's what I thought: they raped her, they lined up. I was angry because of the rape, yes, but she was so beautiful, and the mayor should have been first. What a waste.)
  • Duterte on Australian rape victim: Napakaganda. Dapat ang mayor ang mauna. (April 16, 2016)

• [Remarks on disabled people] Iyong isa doon, classmate ko pa. Eh na-stroke, paganoon-ganoon [mimics]. Gusto ko sabihin, "Pakamatay ka na lang" (One of them was my classmate. He had a stroke and was like this [mimics]. I wanted to tell him, "Just kill yourself.")
  • SAKSI: Duterte, binaril daw noon ang umano'y bully na kaklase sa law school (April 21, 2016)

• Pero sa totoo lang, sanay ako magbaril ng tao. Mag-graduate na lang kami sa San Beda, may binaril akong tao. (But the truth is, I'm used to shooting people. When we were about to graduate from San Beda, I shot a person.)
  • Duterte: I shot a bully San Beda law student (April 21, 2016)

• If I make it, God willing, to the presidency, I will be the first Left president in this country.
  • Excerpt from the Speech of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Lyceum of the Philippines University 64th Commencement Exercises (April 24, 2016)

• I would rather lose the election than lose my identity.
  • In an interview with Jazeera (April 2016)

• Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you’re a son of a bitch. Freedom of expression cannot help you if you have done something wrong...The constitution can no longer help you if you disrespect a person.
  • Duterte endorses killing corrupt journalists (June 1, 2016)
  • "Duterte says killing of corrupt Philippines journalists justified" CNN (June 1, 2016)

• Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. Now there is 3 million, what is it, 3 million drug addicts (in the Philippines), there are [...] I'd be happy to slaughter them. At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have (me). You know my victims, I would like (them) to be all criminals, to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.
  • Speech in Davao City, cited in "Philippines President likens himself to Hitler" CNN (September 30, 2016)
  • In the Holocaust, six million Jews were killed out of 11 million deaths in total. Duterte later apologised for these comments.

• Kulong? Ay 'sus. Kulong, eh noong teenager ako pasok-labas-pasok ako sa kulungan. Rambol dito, rambol – at the age of 16, may pinatay na ako. Tao talaga. Rambol. Saksak. Noong 16 years old iyon, nagkatinginan lang. (Jail? Jeez. When I was a teenager, I was in and out of jail. One fight there, another here – at the age of 16, I killed someone. A person. During a fight. Stabbing. I was 16. Just because we looked at each other.)
  • Duterte claims he stabbed someone to death as a 16-year-old (November 9, 2017)

• If you are doing an illegal activity in my city, if you are a criminal or part of a syndicate that preys on the innocent people of the city, for as long as I am the mayor, you are a legitimate target of assassination.
  • "The punisher’s paradise" in Southeast Asia Globe

• (I hate corruption.) Hindi ako nagmamakalinis. Marami rin akong nanakaw pero naubos na. So, wala na. (I'm not claiming to be clean. I also stole a lot, but it's all used up. So, it's gone.) ...corruption is really out during my term.
  • Livestream: 140th founding anniversary of the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association, Inc. (PCCAI) (June 28, 2017)

• What I don't like are kids (being raped.) You can mess with, maybe Miss Universe. Maybe I will even congratulate you for having the balls to rape somebody when you know you are going to die for your crime.
  • Philippines' Duterte makes fresh rape joke (July 14, 2017)

• [To Lumad schools] Umalis kayo diyan. Sabihin ko diyan sa mga Lumad ngayon, umalis kayo diyan. Bobombahan ko iyan. Isali ko iyang mga istraktura. (I will tell the Lumad there, get out of there. I will bomb you and include the structures. I will use the Armed Forces, the Philippine Air Force.) Talagang bobombahan ko 'yung mga... lahat ng ano ninyo. (I will really bomb all of it.) Because you are operating illegally and you are teaching the children to rebel against government... [Kung] may kalokohan kayo, edi mas lalo na ako.
  • Duterte threatens to bomb Lumad schools (July 24 2017)
  • News5Everywhere - Lumad schools sa Mindanao, pasasabugin daw ni Pres. Duterte? (July 26 2017)

• [To jeepney transport groups] Pag hindi niyo na-modernize yan, umalis kayo. Mahirap kayo? Putang ina, sige! Mag... magtiis kayo sa hirap at gutom. Wala akong pakialam. (If you don't modernize, leave. You're poor? Son of a whore! Suffer through hardship and hunger. I don't care.)
  • President Duterte attends federalism summit in Camarines Sur (October 17, 2017)

• We won't kill you. We will just shoot your [female rebels] vagina so that if there are no vaginas, it would be useless.
  • 'We will shoot your vagina': Philippines president on communist rebels (February 13, 2018)

• Kaya pagdating ko sabi ko, ‘Hoy, kayong mga tambay diyan, 'pag dumaan 'yang obispo ninyo holdapan 'yan maraming pera 'yan putang ina niya. Patayin mo.’ (That's why I said, "Hey, you bystanders, when your bishop passes by, stick him up, that son of a bitch is rich. Kill him.")
  • Duterte to tambays: Steal from, kill 'rich' bishops (January 10, 2019)

• ‘Yang aming away ko sa Katoliko amin lang yan personal. Kayong mga adik, 'wag ninyong totohanin ‘yong pukpokin yung bishop at kardinal, hindi sila kasali sa political ruckus. (My quarrel with the Catholic church is personal. You drug addicts, don't harm bishops and cardinals because they are not involved in the political ruckus.)
  • "About-face: Duterte now says 'Don’t kill bishops, priests' (February 25, 2019)

• Ako ang nasusunod kaya I feel so responsible sa mga pulis ko pati sa mga militar. (I am in charge that's why I feel responsible for the police and the military.)
  • Talk to Troops in Zamboanga City (July 3, 2020)

• Adre, hindi ako atat na atat maging presidente. (I am a disposable president because that is this the ---) ‘yon dapat ang ano. Kasi kung ayaw ninyo, kung galit kayo, o ‘di tanggalin ninyo ako, mag-coup d’état kayo. (Cadre, I am not overly eager to be President. I am a disposable President because that is how it should be. If you don't want me, if you're angry, then remove me, stage a coup d'état.)
  • Talk to Troops in Zamboanga City (July 3, 2020)

• Hindi ba kayo nagtaka kung sabihin ninyo nagpapalakas ako sa military? Tingnan mo 'yung Cabinet ko, kalahati puro retired generals. Kalahati ng Cabinet members, predominantly diyan. (Don't you wonder why you can say I am currying favor with the military? Look at my Cabinet, half of them are retired generals. Half of the cabinet members are predominantly from there.)
  • Talk to Troops in Zamboanga City (July 3, 2020)

• [To Davao citizens] You go back in time[...] Gaganito ba kaganda ang Davao kung niwaldas ko yung discretionary fund ko (intelligence fund)? Gaganito kaya... You know the history of Davao. Nandiyan si pastor [Apollo Quiboloy]. Kayo lahat, you're a living witness na maganda ang Davao. How did it came about? How did it flourish? Kinain ko yung intelligence fund, ang intelligence fund, binili ko, pinapatay ko lahat. Kaya gano'n ang Davao. Yung mga kasama ninyo, pinatigok ko talaga. Iyon ang totoo. (You go back in time... Would Davao have become this beautiful had I freely spent my discretionary fund (intelligence fund)? Would it have... You know the history of Davao. Pastor is here. You all, you're a living witness to how beautiful Davao is. How did it came about? How did it flourish? I ate the intelligence fund, the intelligence fund, I bought, and thus I had them all eliminated. That's why Davao is like that. You're fellow residents, I truly had them killed. That's the truth.)
  • Monologue during an episode of Duterte's talk show Gikan sa Masa, para sa Masa (October 10, 2023)

War on Drugs

• If I become president, I advise you people to put up several funeral parlor businesses because I am against illegal drugs... I might kill someone because of it.
  • Duterte: If I win, better put up more funeral parlors (November 26, 2015)

• On drug addicts: If they are there in your neighbourhood, feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support. If he fights and fights to the death, you can kill him. I will give you a medal... If you are involved in drugs, I will kill you. You son of a whore, I will really kill you.
  • Philippines' Duterte urges public to kill criminals

• Your concern is human rights; mine is human lives.
  • SONA 2018 Highlights: Pres. Duterte: “Your concern is human rights. Mine is human lives.” (July 23, 2018)

Marawi conflict

• Because they (the Maute group) threatened to go down from the mountains to burn down Marawi? Go ahead, be my guest. We will wait for you there. Walang problema (No problem).
  • Wallace Business Forum Dinner with President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (December 12, 2016)

• On the Maute group: "Kaibiganin natin para walang gulo," (Let's befriend them so there won't be any conflict.)
  • Duterte wants to befriend Maute group (November 29, 2016)

Targeted remarks to personalities and institutions

• After being criticized by Australian ambassador Amanda Gorely and American ambassador Philip Goldberg: It would do well with the American ambassador and the Australian ambassador to shut their mouths.
  • Duterte says he may cut US, Australia ties (April 21, 2016)

• On US Ambassador Philip Goldberg: We were speaking to Kerry, he's OK but I had a fight with their ambassador, that gay son of a whore. He pissed me off. He was meddling in the elections, giving statements here and there. He wasn't supposed to do that.
  • Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte insults US envoy with homophobic slur, The Guardian (10 August 2016)

• [On Pope Francis' visit to the Philippines causing traffic jams] Gusto kong tawagan, ‘Pope putang ina ka, umuwi ka na. ‘Wag ka nang magbisita dito. (Pope, you son of a bitch, go home. Don’t visit here anymore.)
  • Duterte curses Pope Francis over traffic during his visit

• [On Justin Trudeau, the Canadian PM] For God's sake, Mr. Trudeau, my own citizens are rebelling against us; killing my soldiers and policemen and civilians. And I cannot use the helicopter because they are citizens but they are out to overthrow my government. If you cannot understand [that], you should not be there in that mighty post of yours. Because you do not know the history of the world and geopolitics.
  • Philippines president questions whether Trudeau understands history, politics

• [On Agnès Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur] Kaya sabi ko, Callamard, kung imbestigahan mo ako, sampalin kita. (That's why I told Callamard, if you investigate me, I'll slap you.)
  • Interaksyon WATCH | Duterte again hits Callamard: ‘Kung imbestigahan mo ako, sampalin kita!’

• Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.
  • Philippine President to Obama: 'Go to Hell'

• New York Times… Asshole, asshole. You cannot even criticize your own mistake. Invading a country, making up excuses before the world that is not true, then you have the gall to say stop. You better stop your publishing.
  • Duterte to New York Times: "You better stop your publishing" Philippine Daily Inquirer (April 27, 2017)

• [On the International Criminal Court (ICC)] I said you’re all bullshit. They want to send me to prison and try me for genocide… They are a bunch of criminals, they cannot even show me how they died, when they died, where. Nothing.
  • Duterte slams ICC anew: ‘They are a bunch of criminals, bullshits, idiots’ Philippine Daily Inquirer (September 22, 2018)

• He must be stupid, this ex-President of Colombia [saying] Duterte is committing the same mistake. We cannot, never be on the same mistake because I am not stupid; you are.
  • ‘I’m not stupid; you are,’ Duterte tells Colombia’s Gaviria

• [To Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Bill Clinton, the former US President] When your father was screwing Lewinsky and the rest of the young girls there in the office of the president, on the table, on the floor, on the sofa, did you raise any criticism?
  • "Duterte slams Chelsea Clinton again for rape joke criticism" AP News

• [On Leni Robredo, former Vice President of the Philippines] I don’t think she can ever be ready to govern a country. Reason? Incompetence. She’s not capable of running a country like this, Philippines.
  • Duterte calls Robredo 'incompetent' ABS-CBN news

• [On the Commission on Audit of the Philippines ] Putangina 'yang COA na 'yan. Letse kasi yung COA, everytime may mali talaga. Ano ba naman itong COA na ito? Kung magkidnap tayo ng taga-COA, lagay natin, i-torture natin dito, 'tangina. (Those sons of bitches in COA. That COA, everytime, there is always something wrong. What's up with this COA? What if we kidnap someone from COA, we torture them here? Sons of bitches.)
  • Duterte jokes: Let's kidnap, torture COA personnel

• [On Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, removed in 2018 after criticising Duterte] Talagang dapat paalisin ka, noon pa. Bobo ka na, putang ina, kung anong pinagsasabi mo. (That’s why you really have to go, even back then. You're already stupid, son of a bitch, you keep on saying all sorts of things.) I’m putting you on notice that I’m your enemy and you have to be out of the Supreme Court. I will see to it. And after that, I will request Congress go to the impeachment right away.
  • Duterte calls for resignation of ‘ignorant’ Sereno

• On Florin Hilbay, former Solicitor-General and a 2019 opposition senatorial candidate] He acts like a man and pretends that Agot is his girlfriend. Be true to yourself. You're gay. Don't hide behind a cover. You were made by God. God made a mistake. Just because he's a God does not mean he is incapable of making mistakes.
  • Duterte: God made a mistake, Hilbay is gay

• On Francisco Tatad, journalist and former Philippine senator] You Tatad. You know, there is a border between press freedom and disrespecting people. If I see you, get out of my way. You son of a bitch, I will slap you. Believe me, I will slap you in front of a lot of people...You really want to test if we really have [it]? You have a wife. You lend her to me, you son of a bitch. Maybe let’s do it here. It’ll be fine. It's just 10 minutes.
  • Duterte lashes out at Tatad (February 16, 2019)

• [On Teddy Casiño, a former Bayan Muna representative] Ikaw, Teddy, 'yung ulo mo sobrang laki (You, Teddy, your head is so big). That's the problem with an excess brain, it does not work at all...Huwag ka masyadong hambog, wala kang ipakitang ano (Don't be too arrogant, you have nothing to show for it).
  • Duterte hits Teddy Casiño for past 'arrogant' behavior

• [On local media networks] Inquirer, mga bullshit kayo, pati 'yang ABS-CBN, basura 'yang inano ninyo. Dapat may magsabi sa inyo ngayon, mga putang ina ninyo, sinobrahan 'nyo ang kalokohan ninyo. (Inquirer, you’re bullshit, also ABS-CBN, what you report is trash. Someone should tell you, you sons of bitches, you’re going overboard with your nonsense.)
  • Duterte tells 'rude' media: Beware of 'karma'

• [On Chel Diokno, a lawyer] Ito si Diokno magsalita parang janitor. At saka tumakbo ka ng senador, eh hindi kayo binoto ng tao. Alam mo kung bakit? Pwede kitang biruin? Huwag kang magalit. Alam mo kung bakit hindi ka nanalo? Kasi kalaki ng ngipin mo. Magsalita kalahati ng panga mo lumalabas...Bakit ganun? Binabastos kita? Eh putang ina, galit ako sa iyo. Sumobra ka. Sige subukan mo. (This Diokno speaks like a janitor. You ran for senate, and people did not vote for you. You know why? Can you take a joke? Don't be angry. You know why you lost? Because your teeth are too big. When you speak, half of your jaw juts out...Why? Am I being vulgar to you? Son of a whore, I am angry at you. You went too far. Try me.
  • Talk to the Nation on COVID-19 (April 3, 2020)

On criticism

• Do not hesistate to attack me, criticize me, if I do wrong in my job. It is your duty.
  • Philstar, Duterte to media: You can criticize me as long as it’s true (September 2016)

• Anybody can criticize me, except for foreigners.
  • The Manila Times, Duterte: ‘Anybody can criticize me, except foreigners’ (May 2018)

• When you criticize me, do not use the platform of God... Do not take God's name in vain because pag-resbak ko, makasali ko na 'yung Panginoong Diyos. (when I retaliate, I will include God)
  • GMA News Online, Expats living in the PHL have no right to criticize me – Duterte (July 2018)

Quotes about Duterte

• Graft and corruption is endemic and everybody speaks out but nobody has done much except Mayor Rody Duterte.
  • Miriam Santiago at the 2016 PiliPinas Debates in Cagayan de Oro. "Duterte-Miriam love fest blooms at presidential debate" in Rappler (21 February 2016)

• He's the most outrageous, the most colourful and the most interesting character in this upcoming presidential election... We like to compare him to Trump of the US because he likes to shock with his statements. He can be very irreverent and very reckless.
  • Marites Vitug, investigative journalist as quoted by Al Jazeera (April 2016)

• He says crazy things but he get things done. His main agenda is peace and order, and he has shown that he is good at that in Davao.
  • Emirerio Barcelon, former president of Ateneo de Davao University as quoted by Manila Standard Today

• Duterte has long attempted to shut down the Rappler, which has published groundbreaking work on Duterte’s deadly so-called war on drugs that’s killed thousands of people. Duterte has repeatedly described the site as “fake news.” PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE: "You are a—a fake news outlet. And I am not surprised that your articles are also fake." AMY GOODMAN: Duterte has also called reporters who ask him tough questions “spies,” and warned that, quote, “Just because you’re a journalist you are not exempted from assassination.” While Duterte’s government has attempted to silence Maria Ressa, her journalism has been praised around the world.
  • Amy Goodman (2019)

• I am proud to say that President Duterte was my student in political science at the Lyceum of the Philippines when I was still a young professorial lecturer. He became a member of the Kabataang Makabayan of which I was the national chairman.
  • Jose Maria Sison at the joint press conference of GPH and NDF peace panel in Oslo, quoted by GMA News (August 22, 2016)

• He has taken a personal vendetta against me because he has not forgotten when I was chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights and I led an investigation into the Davao Death Squad.
  • Leila de Lima, in an interview with Christiane Amanpour (August 30, 2016)

• We do have an unfit President. He just confessed to doing the killing of people in Davao and we know that he's the one promoting and encouraging and tolerating these killings and therefore, that is an impeachable offense.
  • Leila de Lima, in an interview with CNN (December 15, 2016)

• Your incoherent and foul-mouthed rant against two of the country’s major media outfits – the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN – was not only unwarranted, it was absolutely twisted. It was a brazen abuse of your immense power as chief executive of this land and only shows how little, if any, appreciation you have of democracy and governance.
  • National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, "NUJP to Duterte: Mawalang-galang subali’t napakalinaw na kayo po, at hindi sila, ang bastos." (March 30, 2017)

• By his own policies and actions, Duterte has defined his legacy. It is a malignant one characterized by treason, tyranny, butchery, corruption and deception.
  • Jose Maria Sison on the Duterte legacy (February 1, 2020)

• There was a strange aftertaste to many of the calls for grand social reform in 2020. As the coronavirus crisis overtook us, the left wing on both sides of the Atlantic, at least that part that had been fired up Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders, was going down to defeat. The promise of a radicalized and reenergized left, organized around the idea of the Green New Deal, seemed to dissipate amidst the pandemic. It fell to governments mainly of the center and the right to meet the crisis. They were a strange assortment. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Donald Trump in the United States experimented with denial. For them climate skepticism and virus skepticism went hand in hand. In Mexico, the notionally left-wing government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador also pursued a maverick path, refusing to take drastic action. Nationalist strongmen like Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Narendra Modi in India, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey did not deny the virus, but relied on their patriotic appeal and bullying tactics to see them through. It was the managerial centrist types who were under most pressure. Figures like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the United States, or Sebastián Piñera in Chile, or Cyril Ramaphosa in South Africa, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Ursula von der Leyen, and their ilk in Europe. They accepted the science. Denial was not an option. They were desperate to demonstrate that they were better than the 'populists.' To meet the crisis, very middle-of-the-road politicians ended up doing very radical things. Most of it was improvisation and compromise, but insofar as they managed to put a programmatic gloss on their responses—whether in the form of the EU's Next Generation program or Biden's Build Back Better program in 2020—it came from the repertoire of green modernization, sustainable development, and the Green New Deal.
  • Adam Tooze, Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World Economy (2021)