Duterte places 69th in Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful People
By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte ranked 69th among the 75 “World’s Most Powerful People” list by Forbes magazine, which cited his nationwide campaign against crime and drug trafficking. “Duterte was elected president of the Philippines in 2016 on the strength of a campaign that promised execution of drug dealers and other criminals. So far his war on crime has already resulted in the killing of thousands of people across the archipelago country,” Forbes said in its list published in the business magazine’s May 31 issue.
The magazine also pointed out that Mr. 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 added.
Sought for comment, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said: “President Rodrigo R. Duterte has many times acknowledged that the true source of power is the people. As Chief Executive for almost two years, he has faithfully served our people by promoting the interests of the Filipino people and the Filipino nation first.”
“The anti-drug war, the pursuit of an independent foreign policy, the pro-poor policies and programs of the Duterte administration among others are reflective of the current government’s advancing the welfare of the greatest number of our countrymen. The Presidency, in the mind of PRRD, begins and ends with public trust where real power emanates,” Mr. Roque also said in his statement.
Topping Forbes’ list are Chinese President Xi Jinping (1st), Russian President Vladimir Putin (2nd), and United States President Donald J. Trump (3rd). Mr. Duterte has sought closer ties with these leaders.
Forbes noted that it is the “first time ever” that Mr. Xi topped the list.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin (No. 2) has been knocked out of the top spot, a title that he held for four consecutive years. A little over one year into his term, President Donald Trump falls to the No. 3 spot,” Forbes said.
Notable newcomers to the list include Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia; Jerome H. Powell, Chair, Federal Reserve; Moon Jae-In, President, South Korea; Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister, Singapore; and Joko Widodo, President, Indonesia.
As for the methodology, Forbes contributor David M. Ewalt explained in his article: “First, we asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people. Next we assessed the financial resources controlled by each person. Are they relatively large compared to their peers? For heads of state we used GDP, while for CEOs, we looked at measures like their company’s assets and revenues. Then we determined if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres. There are only 75 slots on our list — one for approximately every 100 million people on the planet — so being powerful in just one area is often not enough. Lastly, we made sure that the candidates actively used their power.”
“To calculate the final rankings, a panel of Forbes editors ranked all of our candidates in each of these four dimensions of power, and those individual rankings were averaged into a composite score,” Mr. Ewalt also said.
