it was clear from the report that he was not behind the davao death squad. persist in accusing him of being behind, now, the drug—related killings. this is an interesting interpretation of the united nations' report into the davao death squad. i wrote to the un special rapporteur, philip alston, to see if he agreed with mr roque‘s statement that the president had been completely cleared of liability. duterte is taking no chances with other international bodies. in march, he unilaterally withdrew the philippines from thejurisdiction of the international criminal court. but the duterte government's attacks are not limited to political orjudicial opponents. the media is also in its sights. the rappler news website was started in 2012, staffed by ambitious millenials keen to expose human rights abuses. in january the government revoked the company's media licence, claiming it was unconstitutional because it has foreign investors. the charges are incredible, and they are false. foreign ownership, i mean, we wanted to be independent, because if you get a filipino

duterte ran a death squad, the so—called davao death squad, responsible for the murder of at least 1200r from the backwater ofa criminal gangster from the backwater of a philippines captured the popular imagination, he transforms the philippine state into a gangster state. senator trillanes is a staunch defender of the imprisoned senator. he led an allegation into enquiries that president's son was involved in a drug deal worth $125 million. paolo duterte denied the accusation and issued a chilling warning. how do you assess the current health of democracy in the philippines under president rodrigo duterte? well, it is going to flat line at any moment. duterte decides to declared nationwide martial law or a revolutionary government. do you think that is likely? given the opportunity, he would pull the trigger. so we, the members of the opposition, are preparing for such eventualities. but he said he would not want to stay in office a day longer than he is democratically elected to be in office for. well, those of us who have profiled mr duterte would not give him the benefit of the doub