GMA ranks 44th in Forbes power list

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo is 44th among the world’s 100 most powerful women in a list released yesterday on the Forbes.com website, despite her declining popularity in the Philippines.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped the Forbes.com list for the fourth consecutive year, while US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in 36th place.

“Forbes’ Power Women list isn’t about celebrity or popularity; it’s about influence,” the website explained. “Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility – by press mentions – and the size of the organization or country these women lead.”

The Forbes’ most powerful women list is dominated by American women chief executives like Sheila Blair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo, ranking second and third respectively.

Only a handful of Asian women leaders and executives – just seven – made it to the prestigious list.

Aside from Mrs. Arroyo at 44th, Ho Ching, chief executive officer of Temasek trading firm in Singapore, was the top Asian woman leader, placing fifth on the list.

India’s Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress Party,

Was 13th. Indian national Chanda Kochhar, president of the ICICI Bank, was at 20th place while Indonesia’s Sri Indrawati, coordinating minister for economy and minister of finance, grabbed the 71st slot.

India’s Kiram Mazundar-Shaw, chairman of Biocon, was at 91st place and Hong Kong’s Eva Cheng, executive vice president of Amway Greater China and Hong Kong Southeast Asia, ranked 92nd in the list.

Mrs. Arroyo’s ranking was four notches below US First Lady Michelle Obama at No. 40, three below Oprah Winfrey (41) and two below Queen Elizabeth (42).

Tatiana Serafin, of Forbes.com, briefly described Mrs. Arroyo: “In July, she became Southeast Asia’s first leader to meet US President Barack Obama in the White House, a boon to an otherwise lame-duck presidency. Arroyo’s tumultuous six-year term ends with new elections in May 2010. Potential power grab in the works: Congressional allies are pushing through changes to the Constitution that would see the Philippines adopt a parliamentary system; then Arroyo could get around the presidential term limit by becoming prime minister. Critics contend this may further sink the stalling economy that earlier in the year hit a 10-year-low GDP growth of 0.4 percent. Arroyo also has her hands full dealing with rise in domestic terrorism.”