TIME magazine author defends 'strongman' story about Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — “I stand by my story.”

So went the author of a piece for TIME magazine that placed President Rodrigo Duterte in a gallery of “strongmen” who rule with an iron fist—a label that the firebrand Philippine leader vehemently rejected.

“Given that Mr. Duterte has made his reputation as a man who loves to talk tough, perhaps he likes being called a ‘strongman’ a bit more than he’s willing to admit,” foreign affairs columnist and TIME editor-at-large Ian Bremmer said in a May 11 article.

“He’s spent more time talking about it than I have,” he added.

Duterte, who is notorious for his defiance of international pressure and rejection of criticisms on his rights record, easily won the race to Malacañang on a brutal law and order platform.

Human rights monitors say most of the fatalities in the government’s anti-narcotics drive are extrajudicial killings committed by cops taking a frontline role in the lethal campaign and unknown assailants.

Last February, Duterte defended his authoritarian style of leadership, saying the country would make no progress if he did not act like a “dictator.”

Despite opposition from critics who condemn the president’s attacks on democratic institutions, opinion polls show Duterte remains a hugely popular leader.

Trump isn’t included in my new @TIME cover on the Rise of the Strongmen. But he’d like to be. pic.twitter.com/2GJKRp2Xsp

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) May 3, 2018

Mob boss

For the magazine’s May 14 issue, Duterte and other “tough-talking populists” like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoga were included on the cover of TIME.

TIME’s Bremmer described the maverick Philippine president in the cover story as "a former mayor who talked more like a mob boss than a president.”

But Duterte had repeatedly taken public exception to the TIME article, saying he has never sent a critic to jail to silence dissent “except if you’re a foreigner because that is another thing.”

In response, Bremmer quickly debunked Duterte’s claim that he never vilified and locked up dissenters, citing the detention of fierce administration critic Sen. Leila de Lima and the unprecedented removal of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, whom the president called his “enemy” that must leave the Supreme Court.

“These are all leaders who’ve won elections in their countries while restricting basic freedoms to tighten their hold on power,” Bremmer wrote, referring to the heads of state he profiled.

“I’m far from the only foreigner with opinions Duterte rejects. His government dismisses evidence of his drug war death toll, substantiated by international rights organizations, as ‘alternative facts,’” he added.