Rodrigo Duterte hopes to outlast his term as Philippine president
He stands down next year, but will be no lame duck waddling quietly off
RODRIGO DUTERTE seemed determined not to appear like a man about to retire. “This is by no means my swansong,” the Philippine president told Congress in his final speech on the state of the nation on July 26th, presenting legislators with a list of laws to pass in the remaining 11 months of his six-year term.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Preparing for posterity”
From the July 31st 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Asia
Can Donald Trump maintain Joe Biden’s network of Asian alliances?
Discipline and creativity will help, but so will China’s actions
What North Korea gains by sending troops to fight for Russia
Resources, technology, experience and a blood-soaked IOU
Is Arkadag the world’s greatest football team?
What could possibly explain the success of a club founded by Turkmenistan’s dictator
After the president’s arrest, what next for South Korea?
Some 3,000 police breached his compound. The country is dangerously divided
India’s Faustian pact with Russia is strengthening
The gamble behind $17bn of fresh deals with the Kremlin on oil and arms
AUKUS enters its fifth year. How is the pact faring?
It has weathered two big political changes. What about Donald Trump’s return?