PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is an early frontrunner in an online poll for Time Magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
According to reports, the Time Magazine poll, which opened on Friday, has Duterte at the top spot with four percent of the votes as of Sunday.
On his heels was Pope Francis with three percent of the votes.
Completing the shortlist’s top 10 were Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, music superstar Beyonce, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US billionaire Bill Gates, US Senator Bernie Sanders, gymnast Simone Biles and women’s march co-chairs Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez, and Bob Inland.
Also on the shortlist of other world leaders were Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the poll showed.
Voting will close on April 16.
This year’s official Time 100 most influential people list will be announced April 20.
Duterte also landed last December on the Most Powerful People list of Forbes magazine.
The President has made international headlines with his war on drugs, which has resulted in more than 7,000 drug suspects killed since the start of Duterte’s term as president.
Duterte also announced a “separation” from the United States and plans to realign the Philippines with China and Russia.
Duterte is also known for cursing a lot of world leaders including Pope Francis and former American ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg, which he described as “an annoying gay.”