rodrigo duterte is best known for his violent war on drugs. i'm just saying, if you create a problem for us, i will take you out. thousands of drug suspects have been killed by police and vigila ntes. of drug suspects have been killed by police and vigilantes. now, two years after being elected, critics say duterte's administration is attacking the very institutions designed to keep his power in check. and locking up those who criticise him. senator, are you innocent? the judiciary, thejudiciary, the the judiciary, the legislature, thejudiciary, the legislature, you harass those opposing you, and you try to pull them beyond your turn.” have been covering the philippines for more than a year, and little surprises me. even the children of infamous dictator ferdinand marcos are emerging as powerful players in their own right. do you see similarities between president duterte and your father? not at all, you asking the wrong person, thank you. as the president's grip on power tightens, are we witnessing a return to the politics of dictatorship? night time in tondo, a district with one of the highest crime rates in the philippine capital. there is a cu rfew the philippine capital. there is a curfew here. if you are under 18, you need to be off the streets by ten o'clock. we are riding with police officers here in tondo, manila. what they are looking for its antisocial behaviour. loiterers. in the last month, we have seen thousands of people apprehended for drinking in the streets, smoking in public, all walking around without t—shirts on. —— or walking. public, all walking around without t—shirts on. —— orwalking. in public, all walking around without t—shirts on. —— or walking. in this crowded city, where many live in small, stuffy shacks, it is normal for people to socialise in the streets. but now duterte is determined to eradicate what he calls loitering. the philippines is infamous for its full to bursting jails. with the president's crackdown on antisocial behaviour, the situation is getting much worse. outside, a van arrives, seemingly filled with children. but the police are not as keen for us to film them. manila is the world's most densely populated city. 21 million people crowd in here, and life at the bottom is pretty tough. the district of tondo is where many new arrivals to the city go. but it is hard to move on from here. it has become the most populous area of the philippine capital. it is squalid, drenched in poverty, and that the sharp end of the president's more draconian policies. —— at. ricardo and russell live aside a heavily polluted river. they are both unemployed and seemingly, basketball is their only escape. when it comes to authoritarian leaders, this is a country with a rich pedigree. ferdinand be marcos is the only filipino to be twice elected president. he has now second term of office by more than a year and shows no inclination to step down. in the 1970s, the philippines fell into the clutches of a notorious dictator, ferdinand marcos, who declared martial law. the president today exhorted members of thejudiciary to the president today exhorted members of the judiciary to expedite action... he muzzled the media, close down political opposition, and took control of the judicial process. “— took control of the judicial process. —— closed. he and his wife imelda plundered the country's offers to the tune of $10 billion, and set the benchmark high for corruption. —— coffers. imelda became a byword for greed, exemplified by her vast collection of designer shoes and dresses. eventually, the marcos family fled the country in 1986. now, some critics believe that history is in danger of repeating itself. president duterte came to power promising to root out the country's big social problem, drugs. much of myjob has been reporting on the fallout from this policy. in the last two years, the president's war on drugs has seen at least 4000 suspected drug users and dealers killed during police operations. it is not just it is notjust the war on drugs, but also the attacks on the constitution which many fear threaten democracy here. the president's biggest critic isa here. the president's biggest critic is a long—standing political opponent, senator lila delena. as chairperson on the commission of human rights, she investigated an earlier killing spree. before becoming president, duterte was accused of controlling a death squad in the provincial city of davao, where he was now, responsible for houses of death and disappearances. in february 2017 the department of justice detains lila delena following allegations of corruption by the president. many believe they are trumped up charges. i attended her recent trial. senator, bbc, are you innocent? i am innocent! the world knows that i am innocent. i am being persecuted. for now, the senator is being held in a detention cell in the national police headquarters infamous under the marcos regime for disappearances and torture. asa as a foreign journalist, i am not allowed to interview the senator inside her detention cell. instead, i have sent questions to her special adviser and she has responded by writing 21 pages of handwritten letters. in them, she details what life is like inside the detention cell and also why she believes president rodrigo duterte is bullying politicians. been corrupt is not in my dna and no amount of lies or black propaganda can change the fact that i am innocent. duterte ran a death squad, the so—called davao death squad, responsible for the murder of at least 1200 individuals. once this criminal gangster 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 doubt, or take his word. another stern critic of duterte is the country's top judge, chief justice maria duterte is the country's top judge, chiefjustice maria sereno. in may, she too was unceremoniously removed from office. she believes the duterte administration is now threatening the very independence of the judiciary. it threatening the very independence of thejudiciary. it does threatening the very independence of the judiciary. it does not like criticism. it shows viciousness against groups of people that it deems are its critics. it tries to show that the strong arm of the presidency is not the on being used to oppress people. i think that is precisely the impression that this administration wants, that you cannot cross him, and if you cross him you are going to pay a high price for it. inside the congress building on the day of his recent state of the nation speech, nobody is disagreeing with mr duterte. harry rockier is the president's spin doctor. once a darling of the left and a celebrated human rights activist, he is adamant there is no creep to dictatorship. some of your colleagues were shocked when you started working with president duterte because of his on the record disregard for human rights. well, he doesn't support the organised human rights community, but he has actually been excavated from claims of mass murder by the un special rapporteur, who investigated the case of the davao death squad. he was completely cleared of liability. at most they were administrative lapses, perhaps. it was clear from the report that he was clear from the report that he was not behind the davao death squad. and despite this, people 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 olsen, to see if he agreed with this 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 the jurisdiction of the international criminal court. but the duterte government's attacks are not limited to political or judicial 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 january the government revoked the compa ny‘s media 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 investor, there is political pressure, they can cave in much sooner, right? we haven't caved in, because we are journalists. the legal charges against the company we re legal charges against the company were one matter. more disturbing we re were one matter. more disturbing were the threats on the international illegal drug is one thing. we had to work out will come from. rape threats were normal, i have been called every single animal you could think of. this was meant to bludgeon you into silence. what they have learned in the last year is that the only defence you really have is to shine the light. so we have gone ahead. this woman cut her teeth at rappler covering duterte's presidential campaign in 2016. she got a unique insight into the would—be president. he was a very different kind of politician. he would swear. he had his reputation of being a killer, someone his reputation of being a killer, someone who flouts the usual mould ofa someone who flouts the usual mould of a politician. so he was also very charming in his own way. he had his way with reporters, with media, with people around him. he was very charismatic. but the relationship turned sour when she wrote an article alleging corruption within the administration. she is now barred from covering the president. my barred from covering the president. my wings clipped. i am limited eye movement. also, my family is very worried about me. they see all the threats online and off—line. i get e—mails with deference and rape threats. so it is definitely not easy. —— death threats. although the majority of the population seemed to approve of the president's strong arm tactics, you can still find those who openly criticise him. at the manila at gay pride event, this punk group, male gays, are not afraid to stand up. he makes misogynistic comments on a regular basis. we want people to realise this is not something that can be normalised. the president right now is like obviously trying to manipulate the judiciary and the legislative bodies to bend as well. soi legislative bodies to bend as well. so i don't know if you could call it a democracy. across town, there is an altogether different song being sung. ata an altogether different song being sung. at a party fundraiser, the president's supporters are charmed by his karaoke performance. and across the country, one recent opinion poll has his approval rating as high as 88%. many are drawn to his tough talking, zero tolerance style. it is not only the president who is keen to hit the right notes. perhaps it is coincidence, but in the philippines today, the marcos brand is undergoing a rehabilitation. the daughter of the man who stole $10 billion from the public purse, and shares her mother's love of shoes, is keen to remind the country that a strong leader is best for —— the country that a strong leader is best for the country. it also is reminiscent of another period in the philippines' history when political freedoms were also deemed a luxury. president marcos sent marine units towards the camps where the opposition is holder. under imee marcos's father, martial law was instilled for a decade. there were accusations of torture and extrajudicial killing. governor, it is coming up to two years of president duterte's will come to see similarities between him and your father? not really. why is that. they are both lawyers. that is it. do you think that they have the same kind of punitive rural? not at all. you're asking the wrong person. thank you. if the daughter of the famous dictator is not the right person to ask, how about the sun? ferdinand marcos junior, it person to ask, how about the sun? ferdinand marcosjunior, it known as bong bong, is every bit and this is as his sister. he isjostling to become the vice president. which ruled the country in the same way as your father? -- will. i think we're getting ahead of ourselves now. —— rules. i'm talking about the process for the vice presidential election. —— rule. for the vice presidential election. -- rule. thank you for are much, but if you elected as vice president, what would your. ? simmer to your father? my father was never vice president. in every period in our history, there is a different sort of leadership. —— similar. that is only defined by the circumstances that prevail at the time. so until we get there, there is nothing to say. the extent of bong bong's ambition is unclear. but resident imee —— but president duterte has tipped him. some have said there is a fear of returning to the dictatorship of ferdinand marcos. we are seeing attacks onjudiciary, ferdinand marcos. we are seeing attacks on judiciary, journalists, and politicians. is that affair, ? unfair. is democracy in danger? how could he be a dictator's he was constitutionally elected. democratically elected. whether or not you like him, his days there until 2022. -- he not you like him, his days there until2022. -- he stays not you like him, his days there until 2022. -- he stays there. duterte's grip on power looks secure. despite his brutal war on drugs and the stifling of opposition, the majority of the country still supports them. since we interviewed senator, his arrest has been ordered. he demonstrated his executive. -- senator trillanes. that is a dictatorship the matter how you look at it. the president's will is incredibly authoritarian. with more yea rs incredibly authoritarian. with more years in power, the future for democracy here is looking bleak. —— the president's rule is looking in —— increasingly authoritarian. hello, good morning. friday felt a little bit more like autumn because we had cooler air coming from the north, not surprisingly, the highest temperature was on the south coast, here in hampshire. still 19 degrees, pretty good. over the weekend, we've got high pressure close enough by, that whilst there will be some showers around, for the most part it will be dry with sunshine at times. but it will probably turn cooler as the weekend goes on. pretty cold at the moment, though, underneath that area of high pressure with the clearer skies. we've got more atlantic winds across the northern half of the uk and a weak weather front as well. that's where the we have this band of cloud and patchy rain. ahead of it, maybe one or two showers for scotland and northern ireland. more cloud and quite a strong westerly wind, too. england and wales, the winds are lighter as you head further south. there will be a lot of sunshine. after a cold start, we will see highs of about 18 degrees and it should feel quite pleasant as well. not quite as warm for scotland and northern ireland. we will see the rain coming in to scotland in the evening, perhaps into northern ireland. as it moves southwards, though, the rain peters out again. more a band of cloud heading down into england and wales. and because we have more cloud debris overnight, if you like, it won't be as cold, saturday night into sunday morning. it will feel chillier by day, mind you, because we've got more cloud is moving southwards. behind it, some sunshine and some showers blown in on a brisk north to north—westerly wind. the bulk of the showers i think will be in the northern half of scotland. but temperatures are going to be lower across the board. only around 12 or 13 degrees in scotland and ireland. 14—16 in the south. that chilly north to north—westerly airflow is with us for the start of the new month. but then, around the top of this area of high pressure, we're going to change the wind direction across scotland and northern ireland, replacing a chilly northerly with more of an atlantic westerly, bringing some rain to the north—west later. sunshine for england and wales, still not very warm, 14 degrees at best. the odd showers possible towards those north sea coasts. this band of rain in the north is initially quite heavy around that weather front there. but it will topple southwards and then again it is a familiar story. everything just weakens. the rain just tends die out and there won't be much of it left on tuesday for england and wales. but there will be much more cloud around. we'll get a bit more sunshine for scotland and perhaps northern ireland. so a different feel to weather probably on tuesday, those temperatures beginning to risejust a little bit, but there will be much more cloud. we are left with a cloudy westerly airflow as we move into tuesday and wednesday. that means higher temperatures by day, higher temperatures by night, but but probably not as much sunshine. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is martin stanford. our top stories: the senatejudiciary committee votes to approve brett kavanaugh, but one republican breaks ranks and insists on a delay. this country's being ripped apart here and we have got to make sure that we do due diligence. the fbi now has a week to investigate allegations of sexual assault before the full senate casts a final vote. facebook under fire as it reveals a security breach involving nearly 50 million accounts. police in denmark carry out the biggest manhunt in decades, leading to travel chaos across the country.

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