page_title: Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte
section_title: July
hierarchical_section_title: Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte / First year / July
caption_attribution_description: English: President Rodrigo R. Duterte delivers a speech during the turnover rites of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Camp Aguinaldo on Friday where he discussed historical facts which led to the Mindanao problem and other issues relating to peace and order and the campaign for change towards ending hostilities with the CPP-NPA, MILF and MNLF
context_page_description: The presidency of Rodrigo Duterte began at noontime of June 30, 2016 following his inauguration as the 16th President of the Philippines, succeeding Benigno Aquino III. His term is expected to end at noontime of June 30, 2022.
  Duterte is the first president from Mindanao and the oldest person to be elected president of the Philippines. He is also the first Philippine president to have worked in the three branches of the government. Duterte was the mayor of Davao City at the time of his 2016 presidential election victory, garnering over 16 million votes or about 39% of total votes, beating his closest rival by over 6.6 million votes. Duterte's approval rating has been relatively high throughout his presidency despite criticism and international opposition to his anti-narcotics drive.
  Duterte started a nationwide campaign to rid the country of crime, and corruption, and illegal drugs. The war on drugs saw about 6,600 persons linked to the illegal drug trade killed as of July 2019. Duterte campaigned to restore the death penalty in the Philippines. However, the law reinstating the death penalty stalled in the Senate in April 2017, where it did not appear to have enough votes to pass.
context_section_description: Shortly after his inauguration, Duterte held his first Cabinet meeting to lay out his plans for the Cabinet, which included the establishment of a 24-hour complaint office covering the entire country and advancing the country's disaster risk reduction management, lamenting its current status after recalling his personal encounter with the previous administration's failure to address the lack of basic needs of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in 2013. He laid out his plan to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, the country's main gateway, by transferring the operations of domestic flights to Clark International Airport in Angeles, Pampanga and constructing a road network between Angeles and Manila while his government reviews the possibility of constructing a new airport at the Naval Station Sangley Point in Cavite. He also advised the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines not to provide him and his Cabinet officials with special priority treatment different from ordinary citizens. Duterte pointed out the healthcare in the Philippines, saying that the country could learn from the healthcare in Cuba and ordered his Health Secretary, Paulyn Ubial, to travel to Cuba. Occurring twelve days prior to the announcement of the outcome of the Philippines' arbitration case against China over the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Duterte said that he and his Foreign Secretary, Perfecto Yasay, Jr., will study the implications of the ruling in order to better plan any further steps taken by the government to address the issue. Duterte also expressed his willingness to stop the online gambling industry. After the Cabinet meeting, President Duterte met with representatives from militant groups to discuss the "People’s Agenda for Change" plan.
  On July 1, 2016, a day after the inauguration, President Duterte attended the change-of-command ceremonies for the new Philippine National Police chief Ronald de la Rosa and the new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Ricardo Visaya. During the AFP's change-of-command rites, Duterte personally and briefly met his Vice President Leni Robredo for the first time.
  Robredo later paid a courtesy call on Duterte in the Malacañang Palace on July 4, 2016. Three days later, Duterte appointed Robredo to a Cabinet position (as the head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council). Despite opposition, Duterte announced on May 23, 2016 that he would allow the burial of Ferdinand Marcos' remains in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
  President Duterte issued his first executive order on July 4, entitled "Reengineering the Office of the President Towards Greater Responsiveness to the Attainment of Development Goals". In the executive order, 12 agencies under the Office of the President who focused on anti-poverty programs will be placed under the supervision of Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco, Jr. Duterte said he will end insurgency and war conflicts in the Mindanao, before his term ends, through peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and other Moro groups. Duterte noted that the intervention of foreign countries, including the United States, caused the worsened war situation in the Middle East countries including Iraq and Libya.
  On 12 July 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) tribunal agreed unanimously with the Philippines in the international case, Philippines v. China, which former president Benigno Aquino III initiated in January 2013. In its award, it concluded that there is no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or resources, hence there was "no legal basis for China to claim historic rights" over the area within the nine-dash line. The tribunal also judged that the PRC had caused "severe harm to the coral reef environment", and that it had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in its Exclusive Economic Zone by interfering with Philippine fishing and petroleum exploration by, for example, re
caption: Duterte delivers his speech during the turnover rites of the Armed Forces of the Philippines at Camp Aguinaldo
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