PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte was again named one of the most powerful people in the world this year, this time by Forbes magazine, but Malacañang quickly defended him by saying the true source of his power was the people.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said that, for almost two years in office, Duterte had faithfully served the people by promoting the interests of the Filipino people and the Filipino nation first.
Duterte placed 69th in Forbes’ list of 75 influential people. It said the list selects one person out of every 100 million “whose actions mean the most.”
“Duterte’s raw and vulgar vocabulary keeps him in the headlines: he called Obama ‘son of a whore’ and has used homophobic slurs to describe opponents,” Forbes said.
The magazine also noted Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign that had resulted in “the killing of thousands of people.”
Landing on the top of the list was Chinese President Xi Jinping followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
In 2016, when Duterte was barely six months in office, Forbes placed him at number 70 on the list. It named Putin as the world’s most powerful person for a fourth straight year and US president-elect Trump the second most powerful.
The former Davao city mayor constantly made the headlines for cursing and for threatening to kill drug pushers and criminals.
However, the Palace claims Duterte anti-drug war does not violate any human rights, and that the law enforcers continue to stay within the bounds of the law.
Roque also said Duterte was continuing to pursue an independent foreign policy, and that his pro-poor policies and programs reflected the government’s championing of the welfare of the greatest number of people.
Only recently, President Duterte hogged the headlines after Time magazine listed him as one of the world’s top strongmen, again citing his anti-drug campaign.