No, a UN agency has not named Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte ‘world’s best president’

This article is more than seven years old.
Published on October 22, 2018 at 10:30
Updated on October 23, 2018 at 04:45
1 min read
By AFP Philippines

A Facebook post claims that a UN agency has named Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte the world’s best president. Duterte’s spokesman told AFP the president has not received such an award. UN press releases and official documents online make no mention of any award for Duterte.

The widely-shared post congratulates Duterte for the honour, which it says was bestowed by the UN Economic and Social Council.

Here is a screenshot of the post:

Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, told AFP the president has received no such an award.

“There’s no official notification from the UN about the said award,” he said.

A search of the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s website shows it made no announcements on Duterte.

A search of the United Nations’ website, on the other hand, shows that the statements and press releases issued on Duterte involved a call for an investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings in the country, but not bestowing an award on him.

A very similar post has already circulated on social media on August 27. Here is AFP’s fact check on it.

The new post has been shared over 12,000 times.

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