Duterte, De Lima listed in TIME’s 100 most influential people

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MANILA, Philippines – Two personalities from the Philippines have been included in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2017 released April 20.

President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Leila De Lima have both made it to the list revealed in Time’s website along with Pope Francis, Vlamidir Putin, Donald Trump, John Legend and Emma Stone among others.

The list for Time’s 100 Most Influential People was subdivided into five categories – Pioneers, Artists, Leaders, Titans and Icons.

President Duterte was among the ‘Leaders’ honorees while De Lima was under ‘Icons’.

In his article for Duterte, former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria commented on Duterte’s on going war on drugs.

“There are solutions that work. Duterte could start by treating drugs as a health, human rights and development issue. He could prosecute the most violent criminals and provide treatment for users rather than condemn them to prison, or worse,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, De Lima’s profile was written by Samantha Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She said “De Lima has become Duterte’s most vocal critic – a role her friends call suicidal.”

“It is a disturbing testament to the current solidarity among strongmen and the global surge in impunity that de Lima’s cause has not been more embraced. And yet, even from prison, she continues to speak out against her President: “It’s not O.K. with me that we have a murderous psychopath occupying the highest post in the land,” she further stated.

On April 17, President Duterte won the poll for Time’s readers’ choice with five percent of the total votes. De Lima was not in the list of people included in the poll for Time’s 100 Most Influential People.

Read: Duterte leads the poll for Time 100

Some of the 24 world leaders chosen by Time with President Duterte are British Prime Minister Theresa May, U.S. President Donal Trump, North Korean President Kim Jong Un, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pope Francis.

De Lima,on the other hand, was listed in the same category with Viola Davis, Simone Biles, Ashley Graham, Cindy Sherman and John Lewis.

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Lorenzo Caballes, Jr.
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Lorenzo Caballes, Jr.

Lorenzo is a full time English Language Teacher to high school students in Phitsanulok. He reads and travels for self-enrichment. He also writes at khunkrupinoy.com where he shares his struggles and joys of being a teacher in Thailand for almost a decade now.