Our own President Rodrigo Duterte joins Forbes Magazine’s list of “Most Powerful People” this year. He is ranked as the 69th out of 75. The last time Duterte was in the list was in 2016, where he was ranked the 60th.
Duterte joins Chinese President Xi Jinping, who topped the list, and Vladimir Putin, who previously held the top spot for four consecutive years.
“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,” according to Forbes as to why Duterte was included.
In response to the Forbes list, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Wednesday, May 9, that Duterte “has many times acknowledged that the true source of his power is the people.”