(Eagle News) — While Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte topped the Readers’ Poll for TIME Magazine’s top 100 list, the one who did his profile, former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria, wrote a very critical piece against the 72-year old leader and lectured him on what he should do.
Duterte was among the TIME’s top 100 most influential figures in the world, along with his staunchest critic, detained Senator Leila de Lima who was listed among the 20 “icons.” Duterte was listed among the 24 world leaders chosen by TIME
But the profile written for Duterte in TIME Magazine hit him and his illegal drug campaign.
And the person tapped by TIME to write the piece — Colombian President Gaviria — is a leader of the Liberal Party of his country who was called an “idiot” and “stupid” by Duterte in February for lecturing him on how to run the drug war in the Philippines.
Gaviria is National Director of the Colombian Liberal Party from 2005 to 2009.
From his first paragraph on Duterte’s profile, Gaviria set the tone of his piece on TIME Magazine– hitting the Philippine leader for his war on drugs some two months after he was called an “idiot” by the person he was now tapped to describe.
Former Colombian President claims Duterte has an “ill” grasp of history
The former Colombia’s president said in his write-up on Duterte: “‘Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. Now there are 3 million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them,’Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ President, has said. His approach is as ill considered as his grasp of history (more than half of Hitler’s 11 million victims were Jewish). ”
Last February, Gaviria, who served as the President of Colombia from 1990 to 1994 wrote a New York Times opinion piece saying that Duterte was “repeating my mistakes.”
In reaction to this, Duterte said the former Colombian leader was “stupid” for saying that he knew better than him on the Philippine drug war.
“This former president is boasting that I am committing the same mistake,” he said. “That is only possible, Mr. Ex-President, if I am as stupid as you, I said. But unfortunately, I am not” Duterte said then of Gaviria.
And when TIME got Gaviria to write the accompanying piece on Duterte, he was again criticizing the Philippine president.
Liberal Party leader Gaviria repeats Robredo’s figures
“Since Duterte’s inauguration last year, some 7,000 people have been killed,” Gaviria wrote in his TIME profile for Duterte, repeating the wrong statistics on those killed in the drug war that had also been cited by Vice President Leni Robredo.
Like Gaviria, Robredo is a Liberal Party leader, and is in fact the LP chairman in the Philippines.
On the TIME piece on Duterte, Gaviria added: “His ironfisted strategy alarms governments, human-rights organizations and faith-based groups while winning high approval ratings at home.”
“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,” he said.
“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. There will always be drugs in the Philippines, whether the President likes it or not. The tragedy is that many more people are likely going to die as he learns this lesson,” Gaviria wrote.
President Duterte earlier called Gaviria an “idiot”
President Duterte had earlier lashed at Gaviria for criticizing him in February, calling him an “idiot.”
“Colombia has been lecturing me, that idiot,” Duterte said in a speech in February at the 115th anniversary of the Bureau of Customs, referring to Gaviria.
But contrary to what Gaviria had said, the Duterte administration also has programs to treat and rehabilitate drug suspects who have surrendered, and even for those who had been arrested.
PHL has treatment, rehab program for drug dependents
One such program by the Department of Health or treating and rehabilitating illegal drug dependents, includes moral and social reformation for drug dependents. For this, it has tapped the Iglesia Ni Cristo to help the government.
The DOH signed the memorandum of agreement with the INC last February to help in the moral reformation of thousands of illegal drug dependents who had been rounded up by authorities, and are now undergoing rehabilitation.
DOH assistant secretary Dr. Elmer G. Punzalan, head of the Task Force Mega-Rehab Program, and INC General Secretary minister Radel Cortez, signed the MOA on behalf of the government and the INC, respectively.
Punzalan said he has sought the help of the INC because he believes the Church has proven itself to deliver “solid results” with regards to changing and renewing the lives of people, and in making them productive members of the community.
The DOH has at least 15 rehabilitation centers for illegal drug dependents.
24 World Leaders in TIME 100’s list
There are 24 world leaders included in TIME 100’s Most Influential Figures. They are the following: Theresa May, Narendra Modi, Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump, Elizabeth Warren, Julian Assange, James Comey, Kim Jong Un, Reince Priebus, Xi Jinping, Rodrigo Duterte, Stephen Bannon, Theo Epstein, Tom Perez, Vladimir Putin, Wang Qishan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sandra Day O’Connor, Catholic Pope Francis, General James Mattis, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Juan Manuel Santos, Major General Qasem Soleimani, and Melinda Gates
De Lima among listed “icons” of TIME
Meanwhile, Senator De Lima was listed among the category “icons” along with figures from sports, fashion, literature, politics, civil rights, photography, and acting among others. The “Icons” were a diverse lot including a civic leader, a vocal immigrant and a noted drag queen.
These are the celebrities whom TIME classified as “icons”: Simone Biles, Ashley Graham, Cindy Sherman, John Lewis, Margaret Atwood, Colin Kaepernick, Jeanette Vizguerra, Neymar, RuPaul, Raf Simons, Biram Dah Abeid, Leila de Lima, David Adjaye, Gretchen Carlson, Fatou Bensouda, Thelma Aldana, Fan Bingbing, Viola Davis, Raed Saleh, and Cindy Arlette Contreras Bautista.
Obama’s former US ambassador to UN writes glowing profile for De Lima, hits Duterte
Unlike the profile for Duterte, the TIME write-up for De Lima was all praises for her, filled with glowing terms.
It was written by Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations from 2013 to 2017, during the term of former US President Barack Obama.
The article by Power, an Irish-American academic, author and diplomat, was also critical of Philippine President Duterte. In fact, her jump-off point in praising the lady senator was a criticism of Duterte. She cited how Duterte insulted the Catholic Pope and her former boss, US President Barack Obama.
Power started of with this: “Leila de Lima knew with whom she was dealing. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (dubbed “Duterte Harry”) has insulted Pope Francis, told U.S. President Barack Obama to “go to hell” and expressed regret he did not go “first” in a gang rape.”
Power also cites wrong stats on drug war
Power also repeated the often used wrong statistics previously dished out by Duterte critics like Robredo and De Lima on the number of people killed in the drug war — the 7,000 number that had been disputed by police authorities.
She wrote: “Since last June, when Duterte took office, some 7,000 people have been killed in his merciless antidrug campaign. Most opposition politicians have kept their heads down, knowing Duterte is both terrifyingly brutal and massively popular.”
Power continued: “But Senator de Lima has become Duterte’s most vocal critic—a role her friends call suicidal. Last August de Lima convened a hearing on Duterte’s drug-war killings, featuring devastating testimony from a former hit man. Duterte allies stripped de Lima of her Justice Committee chair. In February she was jailed.”
Obama’s former UN representative also criticized De Lima’s imprisonment.
“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’,” Power said ending with a quote from De Lima hitting Duterte.
De Lima claims she is “humbled” by TIME recognition
Detained senator De Lima issued a statement on her being included in the list of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Figures, particularly on the list of “icons.”
“I am deeply humbled for being recognized by Time magazine as an Icon among their 100 Most Influential people in the world,” De Lima said in a statement released Friday.
De Lima’s statement even had a hashtag note at the end: #FreeLeila and #WorldisWatching
The senator also stressed how this “international recognition” of her fight was important.
“This is why international recognition of what we fight for is important, because even as darkness surrounds us now, the world keeps watch and shines a light on us, until the time comes when we can finally bear our own torch once again and chase away the monster that enslaves us in evil,” she said.
Palace notes TIME Magazine’s bias against Duterte
Malacanang on the other hand, observed, how TIME was lopsidedly in favor of De Lima, while writing negatively about Duterte
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said TIME even “conveniently failed” to mention De Lima was jailed by an independent court which found probable cause for her alleged illegal drug connections.
“In the case of Senator De Lima, Time conveniently failed to clarify that she was jailed not for her criticisms against the administration but because an independent court found probable cause in support of the criminal charges against her for alleged violation of the law on illegal drugs,” Abella said.
“The fact remains that President Duterte is supported by majority of the Filipinos in his campaign against illegal hard drugs, crime and corruption,” he pointed out.