Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said Arroyo deserves to be included after standing by the expanded value-added tax (e-VAT) law despite the opposition and campaign against it by several sectors.
"With her resolve, the President deserves it," Andaya said.
He said the implementation of e-VAT brought down the country's foreign debt.
It also increased government spending for infrastructure, education and health services and helped provide short-term relief to the global food and fuel crises through the different "Katas ng VAT" programs.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita shrugged off the Forbes' report stressing that Arroyo is not after popularity preferring to focus instead on governance.
Arroyo who ranked number 41 this year has been described in the Fobes' report as a scandal tainted president whose popularity plunged to a record low in 2008 due to the food and oil crises.
"A recent imbroglio: Arroyo's husband is among those accused of accepting bribes in a US$330 million deal with a Chinese telecom firm. Despite rumors of another ouster campaign in the works, Arroyo has survived three impeachment attempts and three coup plots since taking office in 2001 and is sure to fight back," the article further added.
Arroyo got her highest ranking in 2005 after landing at fifth spot and in 2004 when she was in the ninth place. Her ranking dropped to 45th in 2006 and 51st in 2007.
She is joined in the Top 100 by Hollywood talk show host and Harpo chairman Oprah Winfrey who ranked 36 and women political personalities like German chancellor Angela Merkel who retained her No. 1 spot, Senator Hilary Clinton (No. 28), United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice (No. 7), and Nobel peace laureate and former Myanmar prime minister Aung Suu Kyi (No. 38). (JMR/Sunnex)
