By Raïssa Robles –

President Rodrigo Duterte has been making jokes about military coups being launched against him in successive days.

What he and his aides never ever mention is that Duterte is a proud member of a military-civilian group that once staged a series of bloody coup attempts against the late President Corazon Aquino in order to reinstate the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Recently, I got this curious query from my editor in South China Morning Post, who noticed that Duterte had a tiny tattoo on his hand. It was unusual for a head of state to have a tattoo, he said, explaining why he wanted to know more about its origin.

And so I asked Duterte’s former schoolmate, presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza.

And it turned out, Dureza has the same tattoo.