MANILA (UPDATE) - President Rodrigo Duterte landed on the 69th spot of Forbes magazine’s list of most powerful people.

Forbes cited Duterte’s war on drugs that “has already resulted in the killing of thousands of people across the archipelago country” in its brief profile of the Philippine leader.

“Duterte's raw and vulgar vocabulary keeps him in the headlines: he called Obama 'son of a whore' and has used homophobic slurs to describe opponents,” Forbes said.

Sought for reaction on the President’s inclusion in the list, his spokesperson Harry Roque said the chief executive’s “true source of power is the people.”

“As Chief Executive for almost two years, he has faithfully served our people by promoting the interests of the Filipino people and the Filipino nation first,” Roque said in a statement.

“The anti-drug war, the pursuit of an independent foreign policy, the pro-poor policies and programs of the Duterte administration among others are reflective of the current government’s advancing the welfare of the greatest number of our countrymen. The Presidency, in the mind of PRRD, begins and ends with public trust where real power emanates.”

Aside from Duterte, Indonesian President Joko Widodo is the only Southeast Asian leader in this year’s list.

Duterte ranked 70th in Forbes’ 2016 list of most powerful people.

• Duterte among world's most powerful people, says Forbes

XI GRABS TOP SPOT, UNSEATS PUTIN

Landing on the top of the list is Duterte’s ally, Chinese President Xi Jinping, followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

According to Forbes, Putin had been holding the top spot for an unprecedented 4 consecutive years before he was unseated by Xi this year.

“This year's list highlights the consolidation of power in the hands of an elite few. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, seizes the top spot for the first time ever after China’s congress amended its constitution in March, broadening his influence and eliminating term limits. He enjoys a cult of personality not seen since Chairman Mao,” said Forbes contributor David Ewalt.

Completing the top 10 of the most powerful people are German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Pope Francis, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Google co-founder Larry Page.

Forbes said in coming up with the list and ranking, “we considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions.”

Forbes said they asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people, assessed the financial resources controlled by each person, determined if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres, and made sure that the candidates actively used their power.

“To calculate the final rankings, a panel of Forbes editors ranked all of our candidates in each of these four dimensions of power, and those individual rankings were averaged into a composite score,” Ewalt said.

“This year’s list comes at a time of rapid and profound change, and represents our best guess about who will matter in the year to come.”