Rody on making Forbes power list: I don’t need it
Being included in Forbes magazine’s list of Most Powerful People for 2016 is not something to be proud of.
Speaking to reporters Friday night, President Duterte said he finds the tag “corny” and he is wondering what was the magazine’s basis for including him in the list, along with US president-elect Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis.
“I don’t need it. I don’t, really. I said, I’m not powerful. I’m just run- ning a country. We’re not first, second (world country), maybe an emerging country…I find it very corny,” Duterte said.
He maintained it is shameful to be considered powerful if the basis for being called one is the rising number of deaths in the country blamed on his vicious campaign against criminality.
“I do not even impose my leadership on the Filipino people. I have no power, if the power means that killing, attributing to (me) the 5,000 (deaths), if it makes me a powerful man by killing Filipinos, that is a shame. I do not accept the title,” the President said.
“What’s the basis? If it’s killing 5,000 people to make me powerful – you think I enjoy killing Filipinos?”
Duterte ranked 70th among the 74 persons in this year’s Forbes Most Powerful People List, which included political personalities, religious figures and business leaders.
The persons in the list were ranked according to the number of people they influence, the financial resources they control, the extent of their power in multiple spheres and how active they are in using that power.
Putin has been adjudged the world’s most powerful person for the fourth consecutive year, followed by Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pope Francis.
Duterte, one of the 11 new names in this year’s list, was described as a president who was elected “on the strength of a campaign that promised the swift execution of drug users and other criminals.”
Forbes also noted that Duterte has the “tendency to say what he thinks, no matter how raw.”
Earlier, Google listed the President and reigning Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach as among the most searched male and female personalities for 2016. Facebook also cited him among trending world personalities.