The President of the Philippines is traveling to Thailand during 20-22 March, but many people barely know who he is and why Thai people need to care about him. Today, Amnesty will get you to know “Roa Duterte” and his scandals.

In June 2016, “Rodrigo Roa Duterte” officially became the 16^th President of the Philippines bearing the hope of Filipinos that the country would become more stable and safer than it was before from that day up until now. However, his administration brought about stains and bloodshed for the people.

Roa Duterte’s drug war lasting for several months has resulted in more than 7,000 Filipino casualties. Amnesty found that the police officers who killed the suspects would receive the “bounty” as the reward, while some police officers hired a gunman to kill the suspects and share the bounty. Such actions are deemed as a crime to the humanity.

Up until now, there has been no evidence confirming whether the drug war can really help solve the drug problems, and many dead victims are poor people living in the rural area, not influential people behind the drug industry.

Amnesty is one of the global organizations and governments that criticized Duterte so strongly that he suspended the drug war for about a month. However, in the beginning of March, the narcotics suppression operation returned, and 27 people have already sacrificed their lives.

In addition to being the cold-blooded leader, Duterte has been recognized as the leader who likes to condemn the mass media, and the most eerie incident was in July 2016 when he threatened that news reporters could also be “assassinated” if they continued to misbehave. The female senator who raised a discussion attacking the human rights issues in his government was arrested out of the blue as if she was being politically repressed.

Even though it is clear to the world that this human rights situation has revealed how horrible Duterte is, he has also recently confirmed that his human rights administration is already "on the right path".

As for Duterte’s visit to Thailand this week, it is very interesting to see if both national leaders will seriously find a way to improve human rights situation in their country and region or if they are willing to turn a blind eye and move backwards.