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President Duterte is alive!

Photo by Rouelle Umali for Xinhua News

After a six-day absence, President Duterte re-appeared at the Eid-al-ftir celebration in Malacañang Tuesday evening.
That ended grim speculations that prompted Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella to assure the public earlier in the days that the President is “alive and well.”

In a press briefing, Abella allayed concerns about the Duterte’s prolonged absence from public activities saying, “First and foremost, he is alive and well. He is very well. He is just busy doing what he really needs to do. The President, you know, as you‘ve seen, he’s been very much in the public eye; but being out of the public eye, that is when he is able to really do all his work – he signs papers, he reads, he consults, he’s actually very busy.”

One of the issues raised about Duterte’s mysterious absence is that there is an ongoing war in Marawi City which prompted him to declare Martial Law in Mindanao, one of the extreme measures reserved for a president to deal with emergency situation. And he disappears from the national scene!

Abella said despite Duterte not being seen in public,”He is on top of every situation. He is aware of what’s happening; he’s updated regularly. He’s updated regularly, he reads, he views, he listens to this, and he’s quite aware… And again you know, this is just his, like we said work in style and it was not meant to cast aspersions upon anybody; but this is the way he works.”

His communications guy, Press Secretary Martin Andanar was more colourful in his description about the President’s health. In a radio interview, Andanar said,”Ang Pangulong Duterte ay in the pink of health.”

I don’t know if it’s in our TV set but when the President delivered his speech, he was not a picture of someone “in the pink of health.” He looked looked puffy and his left eyelid was drooping. Is it from too much sleep?

Rumors and speculations thrive when there is no transparency about things that deviate from the normal. The President didn’t show up in the Leaders’ dinner and photo call at the summit of Asia Pacific Economic Meeting in Peru last November. There must be a much more urgent reason other than jet lag or diarrhea, or hatred of Obama- which were the reasons he gave- for his absence in those two important APEC events after spending millions of taxpayers’ money and enduring long hours of travel.

Photo by Rouelle Umali for Xinhua News

Also in November last year, he failed to show up in the scheduled meeting with Bangladesh officials. Malacañang denied rumors that Duterte collapsed.

The absences are becoming more prolonged. He was not seen for five days – June 11 to June 17. He missed the Independence Day celebration, an important national event no president has ever skipped.

After visiting the troops wounded in the war in Marawi at the Cagayan de Oro hospital and the displaced civilians at the evacuation center in Iligan City last June 20, he disappeared again and surfaced only Tuesday.

Duterte resents calls by members of the opposition for a medical bulletin as stated in the Constitution that “ In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. “

The President’s spokespersons dismiss the demand for transparency about the President’s health saying he is not suffering from “serious illness.”

But if he is in the “pink of health”, why is it a problem for his doctor to issue a medical bulletin? Then we would be spared of the cloud of uncertainty as we assess one year of the Duterte presidency.

Published inGovernanceHealth

3 Comments

  1. roc roc

    andanar is not doctor, for him to say digong is in the pink of health, tiwala kayo dyan. andanar does not even know how to take blood pressure, let alone know normal body temperature. or take a pulse reading, what is normal and what is not normal. again, for andanar to decide digong is in the pink of health, maybe andanar is talking about himself.

    if digong is sick and being truthful about it, maybe the public is more forgiving and will give him a year off work just so he can regain his health. hindi na kailangang patago-tago pa sila. people who has nothing to hide, hides nothing.

  2. vic vic

    Fentanyl of all opioid is the most potent…last year (2016)in British Columbia 922 died from opioid overdose majority from Fentanyl…many “unintentionally”..Fentanyl mixed with other drugs without the users knowing and taking in normal dossage for example Heroine is FATAL..(fentanyl is 100 times potent than heroine in Fact Heroine is used to Treat Fentanyl Addicts in their rehabs and also to ease the w/drawal)

    Although the Anti-Dote Drug Laxacone is very effective and is available free, chances is nobody around to apply to the users when the fentanyl is taken intentionally or mixed unintentionally with other drugs.

    Also please note that by LAW, any items by mail especially from mail order overseas less than 100 grams can not be Physically opened by Border personnel for inspection but be taken as DECLARED and the Chinese taking advantage of the Law..That is now being discussed if the law is to be amended…Opioid can be easily smuggled in increments.

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