Cabaero: Time off

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte landed at the top of an online poll on who should be in the Time 100 list of most influential people, but it doesn’t mean he is more powerful than, say, Pope Francis.

The official list to be decided by Time editors would not place him as more influential than the Pope or Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or any of those he beat in the online survey because the final list will name people as “influential,” with no “more influential” or number one among them.

A Malacañang statement Monday announced that Duterte landed in the top spot of Time magazine’s readers poll and said he got more votes than Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Pope, United States billionaire Bill Gates and Facebook’s Zuckerberg.

But reading about the list on the Time website showed that being at the top of the online poll doesn’t mean Duterte is more influential than them because the online survey was simply a tool for readers to let Time editors know of their choices.

Time.com announced Monday that Duterte won the 2017 Time 100 poll “after consistently leading the survey, which asked readers who should be included on this year’s Time 100 — an annual list of the world’s most influential people.” The survey was done online, through the Time website, and ran from March 24 to April 16.

It is not surprising that Duterte would lead in the poll since many Filipinos see him as controversial and powerful, and he has so-called digital warriors, human or robot, who propelled his presidential run online and on social media last year.

But the online poll is separate from the Time 100 list to be released by the publication on April 20. The Time website said the online poll was meant for readers to share their choices with the editors who will decide on the official Time 100 list. He is the online choice for most influential and that probably assures him of a place in the official list but he does not beat anybody in any ranking because there is no number 1 or 2 or 100.

The list, found on Time.com, categorizes influential people into “Pioneers,” “Titans,” “Artists,” “Leaders,” and “Icons.” There can be 15 winners in one category, 30 in another. No set number. Duterte would fall under the “Leaders” category and would probably be in the company of Trudeau but he cannot be most influential of the bunch because there is no such thing.

The Time website said Duterte received five percent of the total “yes” votes in the online poll. Since taking office in June, it said, “Duterte has waged an aggressive war on drugs that has killed more than 8,000 people in the Philippines, according to Reuters.” It added, “The controversial anti-drug campaign has inspired growing opposition from human rights groups and some political leaders, including Vice President Leni Robredo.”

If you go by how Time editors vote, a similar selection, but this time on products, showed that the decision process is fully an editorial undertaking.

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