(Eagle News)—President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, May 8, slammed Time magazine for including him in its list of “despots.”
*** i** itong Time Magazine na ‘to. Nilagay ako doon sa mga despot. Hindi naman ako.. Ba’t diktador ba ako?” Duterte said in a speech in Malacañang, reacting to the story that named him among the world’s “strongmen” who included Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
“Since when did I send somebody to prison for just talking against me?” he asked.
He noted that he “looked like a monster” in the Time cover.
In its May cover story written by Ian Bremmer, Duterte was described as “a former mayor who talked more like a mob boss than a President, on his promises to wipe out the drug trade with his own brand of justice.”
But the Palace defended Duterte from the label, noting that Filipinos have come to appreciate the President’s strong leadership style judging by his high ratings.
