THE Palace assured the public Monday that President Rodrigo Duterte is in good shape and able to continue fulfilling his responsibilities as the country’s chief executive, following reports that he had passed out earlier in the day.
“We would like to assure our people that the President is in good physical and mental health. He is strong and agile and can stand the responsibilities and demands of the presidency,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said.
Andanar was reacting to information received by one Palace reporter that Duterte had passed out, a report that Special Assistant to the President Christopher Go denied.
Duterte yesterday had a packed schedule consisting of mostly close-door meetings with officials, including courtesy calls from officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; a ceremonial switch on ceremony of a 135-MW Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Power Plant of the Palm Concepcion Power Plant in Concepcion, Iloilo; and the turnover of Pagcor checks for the President’s Social Fund.
Duterte also had meetings with former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo, Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari and some businessmen.
In a speech before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines last November, Duterte said that people should not ask if he is sick.
“At this point in time, I am 72. Don’t ask me if I’m sick. Every 72-year-old in this world is sick,” the President declared, without waiting for anyone to ask him about his health.
The President said he had a slipped disc from a motorcycle accident 10 years ago. He also has Barrett’s esophagus, which involves tissue lining the esophagus, and Buerger’s disease, a constriction of the blood vessels caused by accumulation of nicotine.
Duterte also complained anew about his getting tired of the rigors of his job as the nation’s Chief Executive, even expressing willingness to pass his post on to anyone who would prove to do the job better.
“If this is the kind of job you are giving me, I could only endure so much; I think I deserve a needed rest,” he said.