Ex-Philippine President, Under Investigation for War on Drugs, Returns to Politics

Before Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines and ordered a war on drugs in which tens of thousands of innocent people are estimated to have died, he was the mayor of the southern city of Davao. It was where he first sponsored the deadly tactics for extrajudicial killings that would go on to ravage the country for years.

On Monday, more than two years after his presidential term ended, Mr. Duterte filed paperwork to run for his old job in Davao. Over the weekend, he had suggested that he would come out of retirement and pursue his old modus operandi — which is being investigated by an international court — and warned drug users and pushers to “get out now.”

“Do not expect that if I am mayor, and we will encounter each other, I will make you live,” Mr. Duterte, 79, said on Saturday. “I will really kill you.”

While Mr. Duterte has faced condemnation in the Philippines and abroad for his drug war, he remains extremely popular in Davao, one of the richest cities in the country. Getting re-elected there would give him a platform to claw back some of his family’s influence in politics. His daughter, Sara Duterte, is the vice president of the Philippines but resigned from the cabinet in June amid a public falling out with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Mr. Duterte served seven terms as the mayor of Davao, a post currently held by his son, Sebastian, who will be his father’s running mate as vice mayor in the election next May. The presidential office remains off limits to Mr. Duterte because of term limits.

The International Criminal Court is investigating his actions both as president and as mayor of Davao. Rights groups say that roughly 30,000 people were killed by vigilantes and deaths squads while Mr. Duterte was president between 2016 and 2022. At the same time, his tough-on-crime approach and straight-talking demeanor also galvanized support from a large swath of the public, making Ms. Duterte the early front-runner to be his successor.

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