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 11 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE Depending on who you ask, he is either Tatay Digong to his loyal supporters or The Punisher and Duterte Harry—derived from Dirty Harry—to critics and international media. He is the man who won the highest position in the country by a landslide victory in 2016 – with nothing but a promise of a crime-free nation in just six months. He made clamor for his ironclad reign, and the media, local and international alike, international human rights organizations and even the United Nations have their laser-focused eyes on the 16th president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Roa Duterte. He may be known for his snide remarks, dirty jokes and his fiery war against drugs, but here are some random facts you might not know about the current president of the Philippines: 1. He is the oldest person to assume the presidential seat Winning against four other presidential candidates- Mar Roxas, Grace Poe, Miriam Defensor Santiago and Jejomar Binay - Rodrigo Duterte was 71 years old when he won the presidential seat in 2016. Rodrigo Duterte, also known as Rody to his colleagues was born on March 28, 1945 to Vicente Duterte and Soledad Roa Duterte. Former president Sergio Osmena previously held the title of the oldest person to become the president, taking the presidential position at the age of 65. 2. He is actually a Cebuano PRRD’s achievements as a politician in Davao may have branded him as a Davaoeño, but his ancestral roots trace back to Danao, Cebu. His father’s family was originally from Cebu and President Duterte has lived in the city until his family moved to Davao in 1949. There are no known Duterte clan that originated in Davao, their ancestral lineage can only be traced back to The Queen of the South. 3. He came from a long line of political family By now, the name Duterte is already remarked as a strong political clan in the country. Aside from holding the nation’s highest seat, local government offices in Davao are also heralded by the Dutertes – Presidential daughter, Sara Duterte, is the incumbent Davao City mayor, her brother Sebastian Duterte, the vice mayor and their eldest brother, Paolo Duterte is the First District Representative of Davao City. Before the 2016 electoral campaigns, some of us who are not well-versed with politics probably just heard the surname in 2011, when a viral video of Sara Duterte - who was also the mayor of Davao City at the time - punching a policeman made rounds in the local media. Not known to many, however, the Dutertes have been in the world of politics since the late 1940s. PRRD’s father, Vicente Duterte, was appointed by former president Sergio Osmena as the acting mayor in Danao, Cebu from 1946 to 1948. Eventually after moving to Davao, Vicente Duterte became the governor of the then unified Davao province from 1959 to 1965. His brother and Digong’s uncle, Ramon Duterte, was also a mayor in Danao, reigning from 1957 to 1959. A cousin of the president, Ronald Duterte, son of Ramon Duterte, also held the mayoral position in the same city from 1983 to 1986. The family also has close ties with Cebu’s high-society clans, Durano and Almendra. 4. His family has contradicting political beliefs With a leadership that is constantly compared to the former dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, one would think that President Duterte is a Marcos follower. However, history shows that within his family are contradicting political views. Ramon Durano, a relative by marriage of the Dutertes and a former congressman in Cebu, was known to be a solid Marcos supporter. He was even dubbed as a “Marcos backer” by the New York Times. In his autobiography, he described the former president as “the greatest leader the Philippines ever produced”. On the contrary, Digong’s mother, Soledad Roa Duterte, was a known vocal leader of the Yellow Friday Movement in Davao – a movement formed against the dictatorship of Marcos from the 1970s to 1980s. Known as Nanay Soling by the Davaoeños, Soledad led yellow marches in Davao and said to had helped activists who were about to get caught by the military. 5. His career was jumpstarted by Cory Aquino In a 2018 interview, Duterte credited Cory Aquino for starting his political career. He was quoted saying “I was appointed OIC vice mayor. That start me in Davao and I owe it to Cory Aquino.” In 1986, after the success of the People’s Power Revolution, Cory Aquino offered the vice-mayoral post to Duterte’s mother, Soledad, who was an active protester against the Marcos regime. Soledad refused and instead, the OIC position was given to Rodrigo Duterte. After holding the position for two years, Duterte won the mayoral elections in 1988 and the rest is history. 6. He’s one of the longest-serving mayors in the country Before assuming the presidential post, Rodrigo Duterte has served seven inconsecutive terms and a total of 22 years as Davao City’s mayor. In between, he held Vice Mayor positions under the leadership of his daughter Sara Duterte, and once, in 1998, a seat in the Congress as Davao City’s First District representative. It was obvious in his track record and electoral wins that the Davaoeños love him, but he had to assume other government positions as the 1987 constitution states that the maximum number of consecutive terms a congressman and other local officials can hold is only three. He was the city’s mayor from 1988 to 1998, 2001 to 2010, and 2013 to 2016. 7. It took him seven years to finish high school This is why they say academic performance alone can’t predict one’s own success. Who would have thought that a stubborn prankster would be the country’s president one day? Duterte, who seems to have a knack for mischief since childhood, was expelled twice in high school due to misconduct. One of the schools he attended and got kicked out from was the prestigious Ateneo de Davao High School, where he sprayed ink to one of the residing priests using a squint gun. OSAP (Office of the Special Assistant of the President) Undersecretary and OIC Jesus Quitain, who is also a former classmate of the president revealed that in one particular incident, “Rody” even put thumbtacks on their teacher’s seat. He eventually graduated high school from Holy Cross College of Digos (now Cor Jesu College). 8. He was sexually abused In retaliation to the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines or CBCP’s disgust towards his remarks against Pope Francis in 2015, then Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte revealed that he was sexually abused by a priest when he was still studying in the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao. He was pertaining to Rev. Mark Falvey, an American Jesuit priest. Falvey died in the US in 1975 but in early 2000’s accusations against him regarding sexual abuse have been filed in the US. When asked why he didn’t say anything when the abuse happened, Duterte simply said that he was young at the time and was scared of the authorities. The president also revealed that he wasn’t the only one-- there are other prominent individuals, who were also his batchmates in Ateneo, that experienced the same sexual abuse. 9. He was an anti-crime consultant during Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s regime Duterte’s enforcement of law is considered unorthodox at most. He’s been involved in a few extrajudicial killing scandals, with one involving the Davao Death Squad as the most prominent. Despite the negative light on his leadership, a lot of people still hold him in great respect and honor for bringing back peace and order to Davao City. It was not a surprise when in 2002, then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, appointed the strongman to be her anti-crime adviser. 10. He has an autoimmune disease Last year, people have begun to notice that the president’s health is not in good condition. Many worried and speculated about the sickly appearance they see in interviews and conferences, and the country’s leader had been missing important events. Citizens have wondered if the president is sick. In October 2019, to give light to the situation, it was disclosed that President Duterte is suffering from a disease called myasthenia gravis. It’s a disease that causes nerve malfunction and muscle weakness that causes blurred vision, droopy eyelids and weakened extremities. Duterte said the disease is causing one of his eyes to move on its own. He also mentioned that he got the illness from his grandfather. 11. He once violated flag protocol against Singapore In 1995, long before he’s been dubbed as The Punisher by the international media, Duterte, who was the mayor of Davao City that year, made headlines when he burned a replica of Singapore’s flag. He was joined by his employees in doing this a protest against the execution of Flor Contemplacion. This, of course, raged the Singaporean government, even advising Filipinos to halt travels to Singapore due to violent threats from their citizens.