Philippine Showbiz Today
8 - 21, 2015
2018
Jan. May
22-Feb.7,
World News
7
Trudeau, 57th, Duterte 69th in list of
most powerful world leaders
Canadian Prime Minister Jus-
tin Trudeau and Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte are not too distant
from each other in a new listing of
the world’s most powerful leaders.
Trudeau was ranked 57th in the
list by Forbes magazine, and Duterte
was at 69th.
Duterte was among 75 people
on the list.
This is the second time the Phil-
ippine president made it to the list.
Duterte ranked 70th in 2017.
On its website, Forbes said the
list selected one person out of every
100 million “whose actions mean
the most.”
“There are nearly 7.5 billion
humans on planet Earth, but these
75 men and women make the world
turn. Forbes’ annual ranking of The
World’s Most Powerful People identi-
fies one person out of every 100 mil-
lion whose actions mean the most,”
Forbes said.
Forbes cited Duterte’s war on
drugs that “has already resulted in
the killing of thousands of people
across the archipelago country” in its
brief profile of the Philippine leader.
“Duterte’s raw and vulgar vo-
cabulary keeps him in the headlines:
He called (then US president Bar-
rack) Obama ‘son of a whore’ and
has used homophobic slurs to de-
scribe opponents,” Forbes said.
In Malacañang, Palace spokes-
man Harry Roque welcomed
Duterte’s inclusion in the list but
reiterated the President’s statement
that “the true source of power is the
people.”
“The Presidency, in the mind
of PRRD [President Rodrigo Roa
Duterte], begins and ends with pub-
lic trust where real power emanates,”
Roque said in a statement.
“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 pro-
grams of the Duterte administration
among others are reflective of the
current government’s advancing the
welfare of the greatest number of our
countrymen,” he added.
On the top of the list is Duterte’s
ally, Chinese President Xi Jinping, fol-
lowed by Russian President Vladimir
Putin, US President Donald Trump
and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel.
The magazine noted that Xi
broke Putin’s streak on the list after
being featured in the top spot for
four consecutive years.
Completing the Top 10 of the
ABS-CBN Photo
most powerful people are Amazon
Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos,
Pope Francis, Microsoft founder Bill
Gates, Saudi Arabia Crown Prince
Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, In-
dian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
and Google co-founder Larry Page.
Forbes said in coming up with
the list and ranking, “we considered
hundreds of candidates from various
walks of life all around the globe, and
measured their power along four di-
mensions.”
A panel of editors from Forbes
ranks the candidates and scores are
averaged into the individual rank-
ings.
“This year’s list comes at a time
of rapid and profound change, and
represents our best guess about
who will matter in the year to come,”
Forbes said. ●