Rodrigo Roa Duterte^[1] (b. March 28, 1945 in Maasin, Leyte)^[2] is the mayor of the city of Davao City on Mindanao in the Philippines. He was first elected 1987 and twice re-elected. He quit the office due to term limits and became a Congressman for the 1^st District of Davao City in Manila from 1998 to 2001. That year, he ran again for mayor in Davao and was again elected. In 2004, he was re-elected again.^[3] March 28 is the 87th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (88th in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Leyte can refer to several things: Leyte, an island in the Phillipines, site of a major World War II battle Leyte Gulf, also in the Phillipines, and site of a WW II battle Leyte province, a province of the Phillipines, including most of Leyte island Southern Leyte, a province of... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger,greater) is in modern times the title of the highest ranking municipal officer, who discharges certain judicial and administrative functions, in many systems an elected politician, who serves as chief executive and/or ceremonial official of many types of municipalities. ... The City of Davao is one of the most important cities in the Philippines and the de facto capital of the island of Mindanao. ... Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines and one of the three island groups in the country, with Luzon and Visayas being the other two. ... The City of Manila (Filipino: Lungsod ng Maynila), or simply Manila, is the capital of the Philippines. ...

Under Duterte's mayorship, the crime rate in Davao has dropped drastically, to the point that the local tourist board can advertise the city as "the most peaceful city in Southeast Asia".^[3] Duterte, who has been called "The Punisher" by the Time magazine,^[3] has been criticized repeatedly by locals and also by Amnesty International for having or at least allowing small criminals, often teenagers involve in criminal cases such as drugs and robbery, being executed by death squads.^[3][4][5][6] Duterte has always denied any direct involvement with these frequent killings.^[7] (Clockwise from upper left) Notable Time magazine covers from the dates May 7, 1945; July 20, 1969; December 31, 1999; September 14, 2001; and April 21, 2003. ... Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is an non-governmental membership organization with the stated purpose of campaigning for internationally recognized human rights. ... A death squad is an armed group that carries out, usually in secrecy, extrajudicial assassinations and forced disappearances of activists, dissidents and others perceived as interfering with a social or political status quo. ...

References

1. ^ Personal Data from i-site.ph. URL last accessed 2006-10-14.
2. ^ Mayor's Bio Data from the official website of Davao City. URL last accessed 2006-10-12.
3. ^ ^a b c d Zabriskie, Phil: The Punisher, Time magazine (Asia edition), June 24, 2002. URL last accessed 2006-10-12.
4. ^ Amnesty International Press release ASA 35/004/2002: Philippines: Protect the community from crime - but not at the cost of human rights, July 23, 2002. URL last accessed 2006-10-12.
5. ^ Amnesty International Pacific, document ASA 35/001/2005: Philippines: Sharp rise in "vigilante" killings as human rights activist’s death remains unsolved, February 1, 2005. URL last accessed 2006-10-12.
6. ^ Amnesty International: Worldwide Appeals - Philippines: Sharp rise in 'vigilante' killings, The Wire, 35(3), April 2005. URL last accessed 2006-10-12.
7. ^ Tesiorna, Ben O.: Mayor denies giving orders to 'death squad', Sun Star (a newspaper of Davao City), July 7, 2003. URL last accessed 2006-10-12.