Duterte dominates Google search results for ‘psychopath Philippines’

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Duterte dominates Google search results for ‘psychopath Philippines’
Most of the search engine results lead to articles detailing the incident when a Filipina actress called President Rodrigo Duterte a psychopath in a Facebook post

Google the words “psychopath Philippines” now. You’d be surprised that instead of country-specific information or data on the mental disorder, one name will dominate the first page of the search engine results – President Rodrigo Duterte.

A Reddit user pointed this out on Monday, May 1, in a post under the Philippine section of the website.

Most of the search engine results lead to articles of international media outfits such as Quartz and the Independent, as well as local media detailing the incident when Filipina actress Agot Isidro called the President a psychopath. 

In October 2016, Isidro, an actress in Ang Probinsyano reacted to Duterte’s remarks that he would not beg for assistance from the United States and European Union after they expressed alarm over the rising deaths in his war on drugs. (READ: Duterte to EU, US: Withdraw aid, we will survive)

Her Facebook post earned the ire of many Duterte supporters online but she was also supported by others.

Malacañang, meanwhile, responded to Isidro’s criticism stating that while she is entitled to her own opinion, “it also reveals the kind of attitude that the President is addressing – dependency on foreign aid.”

“He wants the Filipino people to gain true independence, economically, mentally and socially,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said on October 9, 2016.

Aside from articles, photos of Duterte also came up in the results. 

RESULTS. Front page of Google search results for the terms "psychopath Philippines." Screenshot taken 5:50 pm of Monday, May 1.

What’s the explanation for this?

We were told by someone knowledgeable about search engine optimization or SEO that a possible reason why Google showed those results is because majority of the websites (both local and foreign media) included the words – psychopath, Philippines, and Duterte – in the headlines of their stories. 

The abundance of articles about Isidro calling Duterte a psychopath was enough to take over the first and subsequent pages in Google search.

If only there were more published stories that actually discuss “psychopaths in the Philippines”, then Duterte would not be on the first page, goes the explanation. – Rappler.com

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