(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte has been named by TIME magazine as the “most googled person” in the Philippines this year.
In its interactive map, Time described Mr. Duterte as “President of the Philippines known for waging a deadly war on drugs.”
Time also named United States President-elect Donald Trump as the “top-trending person in 88 countries in 2016” based on the data that Google had provided to TIME.
“People across the globe were more curious about Donald Trump than anyone else this year,” the TIME article said.
“Trump attracted the most attention everywhere from India to Mexico to Belgium,” it said.
Other politicians made it to the list too, according to TIME.
They include Julio Guzmán, who ran for president in Peru but was disqualified, and Lula da Silva, Brazil’s former president, who was indicted for alleged corruption and money laundering.
“Athletes were also popular, with Olympic gold medalists Mariana Pajón and Joseph Schooling drumming up the most interest in Colombia and Singapore, respectively, according to the search engine. And then there were the celebrities: Leonardo DiCaprio in Morocco, Gigi Hadid in Montenegro and Angelina Jolie in Tunisia,” the TIME article said.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said on Friday that it was “not surprising” that President Duterte was named as the most googled person in the Philippines.
“2016 is an election year in the Philippines. The President was relatively an unknown figure outside Davao City and Region XI. It is therefore not surprising that the people in the Philippines would be interested to know him and his platform,” said Communications Secretary Martin Andanar in a statement.