by extrajudicial killings and rampant human rights abuses.218 Despite claiming to be a progressive leader, even a socialist, Duterte directly demanded anti-drug vigilantes to act on his orders to fight crime, thus perpetuating state-sanctioned violence, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians. In 2021, the government admitted to over 6,000 killings during police operations, though estimates suggest the true toll is at least 7,742 civilians.219 This led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to authorize an investigation into these alleged crimes, highlighting the severe human cost of Duterte’s rule.220 On March 14, 2018, Duterte announced the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC, revoking the country’s ratification of the Rome Statute, an international treaty designed to address serious crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.221 Duterte’s violent and inflammatory rhetoric and policies explicitly encouraged extrajudicial killings, with vigilantes often acting in collusion with state security forces. By 2021, state forces were directly responsible for 80 percent of civilian deaths in the ‘drug war’, which was a war on poor people, with at least 122 children and minors killed.222 The killings were widespread, occurring openly across the country, often in public and in broad daylight, specifically targeting slums and impoverished neighborhoods.223 This deadly campaign, driven by Duterte’s counterrevolutionary approach, devastated countless lives while being portrayed as a necessary measure for public safety.224 Duterte positioned himself against colonial subjugation saying, “I am the president of a sovereign state... I do not have any master, but the Filipino people.” Duterte’s misogynistic remarks further underscored his macho-fascist leadership style. In 2016, he joked about wishing he could have raped an Australian missionary killed in a 1989 prison riot. In 2018, he instructed soldiers to shoot female New People’s Army rebels in the vagina, saying, “We will not kill you. We will just shoot you in the vagina,” 218 Human Rights Watch. (n.d.) Philippines’ War on Drugs. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/tag/philippines-war-drugs 219 Amnesty International. (2020). Philippines: President Duterte’s War on Drugs – Thousands Killed. Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/philippines-president-duterte-war-on-drugs-thousands-killed 220 Ibid. 221 Karapatan. (2023). Rodrigo Duterte And His Crass Legacy Of Mass Murder And State Terror. Karapatan Alliance Philippines. https://www.karapatan.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Duterte-Term-Ender-and-Marcos-Jr-6mos.pdf 222 Karapatan. (2023). Rodrigo Duterte And His Crass Legacy Of Mass Murder And State Terror. Karapatan Alliance Philippines. https://www.karapatan.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Duterte-Term-Ender-and-Marcos-Jr-6mos.pdf 223 Ibid. 224 ABS-CBN News. (2021). As COVID Restrictions Ease, Drug-Related Killings on the Rise Anew. https://news.abscbn.com/news/07/16/21/as-covid-restrictions-ease-drug-related-killings-on-the-rise-anew 61