Duterte: From ‘Punisher’ to Philippines president

Rodrigo Duterte is almost certain to become the new president of the Philippines, after a bruising election campaign in which he started off as an outsider.

He has styled himself a modest man with fewer of the ties to oligarchs that other candidates have and that has so disillusioned Filipinos.

His supporters say that with his reputation for toughness, he will rein in many of the country’s problems, but his critics say he will be a step back towards the dictatorship of the past.

Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte was born in 1945 into a family closely tied to local politics.

His father was once a provincial governor, and the family had links with the powerful Duranos and Almendrases families in Cebu province, where his father was once mayor.

Mr Duterte trained as a lawyer and rose to become state prosecutor before being appointed vice-mayor of Davao in the wake of the overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

He became mayor in 1988 and held the position for the maximum 10 years, before winning a seat in congress, and then returning to the mayoral office in 2001.