HONG KONG’S Yazhou Zhoukan, the “Time Magazine of the Chinese-Speaking World,” has named President Rodrigo Duterte Person of the Year 2016, Malacañang said Tuesday.
The magazine included a six-page cover story on Rodrigo Duterte’s journey as the new President of the Philippines and his controversial decisions that allegedly changed the balance of power in Asia in just six months.
The Hong Kong-based magazine gave the award to Duterte following the “announcement of his independent foreign policy, his distancing away from the US, and forging closer ties with China,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.
“[The] article also praises Duterte’s good governance and anti-corruption campaign as the reason for his popularity among Filipinos.”
Duterte’s brutal war on drugs has attracted world headlines and made him land on the 70th spot in Forbes magazine’s Most Powerful People of 2016 who “make the world turn,” and become the Philippines’ “Most Googled Person in Each Country in 2016” as reported by Time magazine.
Forbes cited his election to the Philippine presidency “on the strength of a campaign that promised the swift execution of drug users and other criminals.”
The magazine also said his ongoing bloody war on crime and drugs had already resulted in thousands of deaths since taking over the presidency last June.
Duterte had earlier said he was preparing a dramatic change in the Philippines’ foreign policy and that he planned to cancel a defense cooperation deal with the US.
“I will break up with America,” Duterte declared in a speech last year, adding that he would rather “go to Russia and to China.”