In some respects, the expiration of Rodrigo Duterte’s term in office may come as a relief to U.S. policymakers. Duterte was a frustrating, difficult, and at times embarrassing ally for the United States — especially given his regime’s notorious abuses of civil liberties.
However, there is no guarantee that Marcos will be a significant improvement. He shows signs of wanting to continue Duterte’s geopolitical flirtation with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Moreover, since Marcos was a Duterte political ally, and Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, was his vice presidential running mate, indications are that there is likely to be more continuity than benign change in both domestic and foreign policies under the new administration. And that prospect is worrisome, both for human rights advocates and U.S. foreign policy officials.
Under Rodrigo Duterte’s rule, death squads (with the government’s blessing and assistance) ran amok. Estimates generally range from 6,000 to 30,000 victims. According to Duterte and his allies, the individuals who were executed without trial were odious drug traffickers, so the lack of due process really shouldn’t matter. Even if one accepted that self-serving, thoroughly amoral rationale, there is strong evidence that the regime used the “drug trafficker” label as a cover to eliminate political critics.
Indeed, even when serving as the mayor of Davao City, Duterte was condemned by Human Rights Watch and other organizations for tolerating and working with police-affiliated death squads. That practice continued, intensified, and spread country-wide when he became president. In its 2021 report, Human Rights Watch concluded that the level of such violence had reached unprecedented levels.
Washington’s response to the record of mounting human rights violations seemed cautious bordering on ambivalent. A State Department report released in March 2017 was modestly critical of Manila’s performance. “The most significant human rights problems were killings allegedly undertaken by vigilantes, security forces, and insurgents; cases of apparent governmental disregard for human rights and due process.”
However, even that document stopped short of an unequivocal condemnation of the government’s behavior. The State Department’s 2021 report was just modestly sharper in its criticism.
Members of Congress pressed the Biden administration to take a strong stand against Duterte’s abuses. In a July 21, 2021, letter to the president, 11 Senate Democrats asked Biden to forthrightly condemn the human rights violations of Washington’s treaty ally. “Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a multi-year extrajudicial, violent, and inhumane ‘war on drugs’ that has devastated communities, and has been used as justification to target the independent press, political opponents, human rights advocates, and compromise judicial due process.”