Duterte, De Lima among Time's 100 most influential people

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Leila De Lima have both made it to Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people, the magazine revealed on its website.

Former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria wrote the write up for Duterte’s inclusion in the list while former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power wrote the article on De Lima.

In his article for Duterte, who was among the 24 world leaders included in the list, Gaviria criticized the chief executive for his “ill-considered” approach to the country’s drug war and his weak grasp of history.

“His approach is as ill-considered as his grasp of history (more than half of Hitler's 11 million victims were Jewish),” Gaviria said, correcting Duterte’s previous claim that Adolf Hitler “massacred” three million Jews.

Gaviria said that no matter what Duterte does there will always be drugs in the country, and the tragedy is that many people will die as the president learns his lesson.

The former Colombian president, whom Duterte cursed months ago for giving the firebrand leader unsolicited advice on how to approach the drug war, said that the Philippine government should treat drugs as a health, human rights and development issue.

Gaviria added that Duterte could prosecute the most violent criminals while providing treatment for users rather condemning them to prison “or worse,” without elaborating on what “worse” meant.

Gaviria referred to his experience as president of the south American country in advising the Philippine president.

He said that he discovered that after spending billions in his drug war it was unwinnable and that human costs were staggering.

Gaviria said: “When I was President of Colombia, I was also seduced into taking a tough stance on drugs. But after spending billions, I discovered that the war was unwinnable and the human costs were devastating. The cure was infinitely worse than the disease.”

'De Lima case a testament to impunity'

In her article for De Lima, Power said that the senator became Duterte’s most vocal critic despite knowing how “terrifyingly brutal and massively popular” the president was. These brutality and popularity have kept most opposition politicians silent but not De Lima, according to Power.

Power said that De Lima, who was among the world icons on the Time list, continued with her “suicidal” mission to speak out and oppose Duterte.

The former US ambassador said that it was disturbing that De Lima’s cause has not been more embraced by people.

“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,” Power said.

Power however noted that despite this, De Lima continues to criticize the president even from her detention cell.

“It's not OK with me that we have a murderous psychopath occupying the highest post in the land,” the senator is quoted in the article as saying.

Some of the other world leaders who made it to the list of Time magazine together with Duterte are US President Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

De Lima meanwhile was in the same category as Simone Biles, Margaret Atwood, Neymar, Ashlye Graham, Colin Kaepernick and Gretchen Carlson.