Rodrigo Duterte to take oath as the 16th President of the Philippines

Philippines will usher in its new head of state – Rodrigo Duterte, the 16th President of the Philippines on Thu 30 June 2016.

Duterte, who was the mayor of Davao City for more than two decades, clinched a landslide victory in the May polls. He ran on an anti-crime platform, promising to curb drugs and corruption, and rose to power despite the controversies that have hounded him.

He will inherit from President Benigno Aquino a mixed bag – solid economic gains, a dysfunctional bureaucracy tainted with corruption, and unfinished talks with both Muslim and communist rebels.

At 71, Duterte is the oldest person to ever assume the presidency. He is also the first candidate from the southern island of Mindanao to win the post. He was propelled into the presidency with huge social media support, and his presidential inauguration will be the world’s first to be broadcast on Facebook Live.

Duterte is an advocate of federalism, which he has said could prove the solution to ending a Muslim rebellion in the country’s south. He is also in initial talks with leaders of a communist rebel group. A lawyer and former prosecutor, Duterte earned the ire of human rights groups during the campaign when he admitted to having killed suspected criminals. After his victory he also promised to give cash rewards to citizens who have shot and killed drug dealers.

Despite many controversies, Duterte’s loyalists have stuck with him, pinning their hopes and dreams on a southern mayor who has never held a national position. Still, his outbursts against local media and statements about women have left many scratching their heads. “Given the sheer quantity of his statements, and the dizzying trajectory of his outbursts, it is often difficult to pin him down,” Richard Javad Heydarian, political analyst and professor at De La Salle University in Manila, told Al Jazeera.