Singapore—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday made light of his penchant for daytime dozes after his office said “power naps” had caused him to miss a number of key meetings at the ASEAN summit in Singapore.
Duterte is attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting alongside a string of world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Japan’s Shinzo Abe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and US Vice-President Mike Pence.
But on Wednesday, the President missed four of the 11 meetings he was slated to attend, as well as a gala dinner hosted by Singaporean leader Lee Hsien Loong.
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“What’s wrong with my nap?” the 73-year-old told reporters as he arrived at the summit venue on Thursday morning for another long day of meetings.
Asked if he felt fully rested he replied: “Still not good enough, but enough to sustain the endurance for the last days.”
Duterte’s no-shows on Wednesday prompted a statement from his office explaining he had only had three hours of sleep the night before.
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“He took power naps to catch [up] on sleep,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said, adding that “some quarters are making a big fuss of the President skipping a few meetings.”
“We assure the nation that his aforementioned absence has nothing to do with his physical health and wellbeing which have been the subject of speculation,” he added.
Duterte has regularly prompted speculation about his health by skipping events or discussing his ailments in public since taking power in 2016.
Duterte has said previously that he suffers from daily migraines and ailments including Buerger’s disease, an illness that affects the veins and the arteries of the limbs, and is usually due to smoking.
Despite his deadly crackdown on drugs, he also revealed in 2016 that he used to take fentanyl, a powerful opiate painkiller, because of a spinal injury from previous motorcycle accidents.
He is the oldest person ever to be elected president in the Philippines, but he is far from the most veteran world leader attending ASEAN.
That accolade goes to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who is 20 years older than Duterte and currently the world’s oldest leader.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said he felt the President has “done more than what he should have” at the summit.
Locsin said he could have attended all the meetings that the President must attend, but Duterte himself insisted that he should be the one sitting at the discussion table.
On Wednesday, though he pressed Southeast Asian leaders to intensify cooperation among the 10-nation regional bloc, the President skipped four of the eight related meetings.
He missed separate summits with Australia, South Korea, a working lunch with ASEAN host and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Summit.
He also skipped the gala dinner hosted by Singapore.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, an administration ally, said the President’s need for power naps was a “very flimsy excuse” and that his absence from some events might mean he was avoiding certain leaders with whom he had problems, such as Canada and Australia.
Duterte’s constant critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, said his absence from the ASEAN meetings could mean one of two things: He is either seriously ill and could no longer perform his functions as President; or he is simply too lazy and irresponsible.
“Either way, that’s a big problem for our country,” Trillanes said. With AFP
