The Palace has to stop telling the people that the President’s absence, for days on end, is no big deal. It is.
The first time it happened, right around the Independence Day celebrations which he skipped, President Rodrigo Duterte was not seen in public for five days. This gave rise to speculation about his poor health.
He resurfaced on June 17, saying he went out of town for a visit to some undisclosed place. He had to travel as a private citizen, he said.
His spokesmen added, without going into detail, that the President simply had some much-needed rest.
Malacañang also released photos showing Mr. Duterte performing his duties and remaining on top of the situation in Mindanao, which has been under martial law since May 23 because of the Maute attack in Marawi City.
Many of the President’s supporters defended his absence by attacking the motives of the people questioning his disappearance. They are probably right, but the question has to be answered anyway, whoever is asking.
And now people do not know where Mr. Duterte is or how he is again. We wonder—why rest some more now, when visibility would do much to assuage people’s fears that about the terror crisis getting out of hand?
Instead, like a petulant child, a spokesman for the Palace said Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, went missing for days on end, too—to play video games. Aquino is a story in his own, of course, and this response does not make President Duterte’s unexplained absence more acceptable.
Malacañang should realize that questions on the whereabouts of Mr. Duterte are legitimate. They cannot ascribe ill motives to those who are asking, because even those who are not affiliated with the opposition are perfectly within their rights to inquire whether the President is sick, or busy, or on a mission.
Even if the president were not Duterte, we would still be asking; it’s nothing personal. The curiosity comes by virtue of the office he holds.
The President’s mouthpieces should stop spewing bitter responses to our questions. Their behavior only fuels conjecture. An anxious nation deserves no less than straight, honest answers.