Malacañang on Thursday denied reports that President Rodrigo Duterte was “unceremoniously ignored” when he attended the enthronement rites of Japan’s 126th emperor in Tokyo, insisting the President suffered from “unbearable pain” in his spine after a motorcycle accident.
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In a text message, Palace Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the report which has been circulating on social media is “absolutely false.”
However, Panelo did not elaborate on the allegation that a seat reserved for President Duterte was relegated to the Philippine ambassador after the Philippine government notified the Japanese government that Duterte could not attend the ceremony.
According to a reliable source, the Japanese enthronement Rites Committee sent formal invitations to all heads of State in August, at least two months before the event. Manila replied that it cannot attend the occasion, thus the seat supposedly reserved for President Duterte was relegated down to ambassador and not to a Head of State.
But the Palace spokesman insisted that the President could not “bear the pain in his spinal column due to a motorcycle accident a few days before going to Japan.
A certain Ding Velasco claimed that the decision to cut short Duterte’s Japan trip was not because of the “unbearable pain in his spinal column” as it was due to another reason.
Velasco alleged that Duterte had no “unbearable pelvic pain” and it was “just a ruse they concocted in order ‘to gain sympathy for an ailing President doing his duty even in grave physical pain’ and not to be publicly assailed for having been unceremoniously ignored in Japan.”
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