President Rodrigo Duterte says he suffers from “perpetual pain” due to his spinal injury, even as his spokesman dared those questioning Duterte’s health to just hang themselves.
“I don’t think I can fly anymore, it makes me dizzy. It’s because of a motorcycle accident,” Duterte said in a speech on Tuesday night in Cebu.]
“I have an impinged C4 and C7, and that’s why I am in perpetual pain. When something snaps there, like a nerve in C7, for example, it cuts the release of the nerve train. [If it happens], your life ends there.”
But Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday said the news that President Rodrigo Duterte fell in a coma was just a “drama” to divert the public’s attention from the real issues like the high inflation confronting his administration.
“You will be surprised that even this gimmick that he fell into a coma also came from them. You saw where they brought the media,”
Trillanes said. “And after giving the media a ride, he [Duterte] suddenly appeared. So many were bum steered.”
Duterte said his own doctor advised him to “better come to terms” with his body.
“The doctor threatened: ‘When you got into an accident, there are so many nerves there. When those nerves snap, [that’s the time] you bid yourself goodbye’,” he said.
Duterte openly discussed the state of his health as he “disabused” the mind of Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison for his claims that Duterte went into a coma.
“Let me just also disabuse the mind of Sison. You know his mind is really abused by himself, nobody else,” Duterte said.
“I’m just in my bed, not comatose. I’m going to last long.”
Duterte said he believed Sison took advantage of the privileges allegedly given to him by The Netherlands, seeking asylum as a political refugee since 1998.
“You are availing of the funds of the Norwegian people. You do not pay anything. You are staying there for free. And you are sick with cancer, in and out of the hospital,” Duterte said.
Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Wednesday the people who wished the President ill would be better off dead.
“My suggestion for them, they should all hang themselves because what they wish for won’t happen. The President is well, he is a lawyer. If ever he is sick, he would follow the Constitution to give information about his health,” Roque said.
“I call on the CPP-NPA, lay down your weapons. The war you’re fighting is nonsense if the leader you all recognize is a person who’s not credible, a purveyor of fake news, and who won’t do good to the society.”
Sison on Wednesday refused to apologize for his “cautious and well-qualified statement.”
“Someday, I will return, physically or in ashes after my cremation. But I always consider myself being in the Philippines, especially in this digital age, so long as I talk about the demands of the people,” he said.
“I am with the people, I have many comrades, friends in the Philippines. So I don’t really care when I shall be able to return to the Philippines.”
In response, Roque said Sison was “clearly delusional.” With Macon Ramos-Araneta
