Malacañang welcomes Rody inclusion in CNN winners list

Malacañang welcomed yesterday President Duterte’s inclusion in the list of “winners” for 2016 by a commentary that appeared on the CNN website.

In the commentary published last Dec. 23, Duterte was described as a “big winner” for winning the presidential race by a landslide and for “subsequently upending, rethinking and reshaping the state of affairs – for good or for bad – at home and abroad.”

Curtis Chin, managing director of advisory firm RiverPeak Group and a former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, wrote the article with Jose Collazo, a Southeast Asia analyst and an associate at RiverPeak Group.

CNN clarified though that the views expressed in the article belong solely to the authors.

“It’s heartening to know that certain media agencies are able to notice the good things the President is doing,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

Chin and Collazo noted in their commentary that Duterte has launched “an unsparing and bloody war on crime and drugs that has brought mounting human rights criticism and concerns over extrajudicial killings.”

They also cited Duterte’s declaration that he would separate from the US, the Philippines’ long-time ally, as well as his decision to set aside maritime disputes “in favor of business deals with China.”

The commentary also noted that Duterte got a 77-percent approval rating in the latest Social Weather Station survey.

“For now, the Philippine leader ’ s unconventional moves seem a harbinger of things to come,” the article said. “This is no pivot to China, but a disruption of the old normal. Duterte ends 2016 vowing to rebalance his nation’s ties, improve the life of the average Filipino and make the Philippines – a one-time economic and trade powerhouse – great again.”