Duterte tagged among strongmen in Time cover story

By Charmaine A. Tadalan
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte is the “strong and decisive leader” Filipinos approve, Malacañang said on Friday, in response to Mr. Duterte’s landing again on the cover of Time magazine as it featured him among a gallery of “strongmen” leaders.
Time included Mr. Duterte together with Russia President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the magazine’s cover titled “Rise of the Strongman.”
“These leaders have won followers by targeting ‘them,’… but they have succeeded because they know something about “us,” or the people they’re speaking to. They understand the sense of threat-and they’re willing to exploit it,” Time said of these leaders.
Mr. Duterte was featured by the magazine soon after his election victory in 2016, but months after, Time featured a critical cover story on his drugs war.
He was described in the latest story as “a former mayor who talked more like a Mob boss than a President, on his promises to wipe out the drug trade with his own brand of justice.”
Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque said on Friday that Mr. Duterte has “demonstrated strong and decisive leadership — a quality appreciated by Filipinos as evidenced by the Chief Executive’s high satisfaction, approval, trust and performance ratings.”
“Filipinos have learned not to take PRRD literally with his colorful language but they have surely taken seriously the issues the President has espoused, such as the war on drugs and crime,” Mr. Roque also said.
“The President’s brand of justice strictly adheres to the rule of law where the dismantling of the drug apparatus ensures the proper investigation of all drug-related killings.”