Presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte certainly wasn’t toning anything down as Filipinos went to the polls Monday.
Wearing a barely-buttoned checked red shirt, the brash mayor of Davao in the Philippines’ restive south was mobbed by hundreds of supporters, his bodyguards straining as they pushed through the crowd who milled outside the Daniel Aguinaldo National High School.
Despite sparking outrage at home and abroad for any number of controversial comments, including rape jokes and threats to murder criminals, he seems to be as popular as ever in the Southeast Asian country.
He wasn’t worried about the election, he said, boasting that he hadn’t even been following the race and instead had been fast asleep.
“I just slept. You know, a lesson in life (is) there are things beyond your control,” he said. “You can’t control buying (of votes) and intimidation, we’ll just leave it up to the police,” he told reporters in a mix of Filipino and English.
Millions of voters — 55 million of the Philippines’ 100 million-strong population have registered to vote in this pivotal election — braved stifling heat to line up and cast their ballots.
What’s up for grabs?
There are tens of thousands of elected positions to be filled, from a new president and his or her deputy, as well as half the Senate, the entire House of Representatives to a huge number of local posts ranging from governors and mayors to members of the provincial councils.
Who are the main candidates?
Current vice president Jejomar Binay, 73. He was a close friend of former president Corazon Aquino, who has played a large role in backing Binay’s political career. But a falling out with Aquino’s son, current president Benigno Aquino III, led to the younger Aquino endorsing another presidential candidate, Interior Minister Mar Roxas, Aquino’s protege who is perceived as bland despite his solid credentials.
Also running are Grace Poe, 47, a popular senator who has been challenged over her citizenship and Miriam Defensor Santiago, 70, a veteran lawmaker and legal expert who once contested the presidency in 1992.
In addition, Senator Ferdinand Romualdez “Bongbong” Marcos, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is running for vice president.
But leading the pack is the hugely controversial Duterte — called the “Donald Trump” of the race by pundits including HBO’s John Oliver and the Washington Post. A recent poll by polling firm Social Weather Stations has Duterte in the lead, with 33%, followed by Poe at 22% and Roxas at 20%. Binay and Santiago were at 13% and 2%, respectively.
Why is Duterte so controversial?
Dubbed “Duterte Harry” and “the Punisher” by the enamored local press for his exploits, he is a colorful and controversial figure known for his inflammatory comments on a gang rape, his sexual conquests and tough stance on crime.
In Davao, where Duterte has held office for decades, he has long been dogged by allegations of ties to death squads and extrajudicial killings.
If elected, he has vowed to execute 100,000 criminals and dump them into Manila Bay. He’s also suggested that he himself has killed people before.
In his last campaign stump Saturday, Duterte played his role to the hilt, and again vowed to butcher criminals as he told thousands gathered in central Manila: “Forget the laws of human rights.”
“If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out. Because as the mayor, I’d kill you,” Duterte, said to wild cheers from the throng of supporters.
He’s threatened to bypass or even shutter Congress, leading to outgoing president Aquino himself calling for all the candidates to unite against Duterte, warning of uncertainty and the “specter of dictatorship” if he won.
Duterte has also promised to jail the corrupt, along with rogue members of the police and the military.
What’s at stake for Filipinos?
Roxas, 57, says that the Philippines is once again in the world’s spotlight, and urged all voters to make the right choice.
“We are here fighting for our future, fighting for the continuation of our way of life,” he said Saturday. “No matter what they say, critics cannot deny that the Philippines is now Asia’s bright star.”
Indeed, the Philippine economy has steadily grown since the early 2000s, earning credit ratings upgrades, with the economy and spending power fueled by the money sent home by the country’s army of overseas workers.
On the political and diplomatic front, the government has been feted for standing up to China over a row in the South China Sea.
Ramon Casiple, a political analyst and head of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said Duterte is “a protest vote.”
“He is a symbol for the people. Nothing happened for many people in the past six years, and he has capitalized on his image as the folk hero here,” Casiple told CNN.
How did voting progress?
Allegations of cheating were rampant around Manila and its southern suburbs.
One woman voter, who declined to be identified, said people representing themselves as allied to a certain politician offered her up to 3,000 pesos ($168) for a vote.
“I declined politely but I know of some who took the money. They were supposed to report back (to the people who offered the bribe) to collect the money,” said the woman.
Scattered incidents of election-related violence caused five deaths in the southern province of Maguindanao, the Army’s Sixth Infantry Division (6ID) told the country’s state-run Philippine News Agency.
Captain Jo-Anne Petinglay of 6ID said the polling remained generally peaceful and civilian casualties are low compared to past elections in the province.
Polls closed at 6 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) and counting will resume Tuesday. Official results are not expected until June.