SC junks bid on Duterte’s state of health

The Supreme Court has dumped a petition by a lawyer asking it to compel President Rodrigo Duterte to disclose the state of his health by making his medical records public.

A highly-placed source said the 15-member bench voted 13-2 against the petition filed by Dino De Leon, who claims he was compelled to take the issue to the high court after his Freedom of Information request to know the President’s state of health was denied.

The source did not say why the high court denied De Leon’s petition.

“I confirm the denial of the petition, but I have not seen the actual resolution of the Court yet,” Supreme Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka told reporters in a text message.

Associate Justice Henri Jean Paul Inting authored the resolution, which was adopted during the Court’s virtual en banc session on Friday.

The justices who concurred with the ruling were Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta, Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe and Associate Justices Andres Reyes Jr., Alexander Gesmundo, Jose Reyes Jr., Ramon Paul Hernando, Rosemari Carandang, Amy Lazaro Javier, Rodil Zalameda, Mario Lopez, Edgardo Delos Angeles and Samuel Gaerlan.

Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa dissented.

In his petition for mandamus filed last month, De Leon argued that since the denial of his FOI request for the disclosure of the President’s medical records was unjustified, the high court should compel the Executive department to make Duterte’s health records available to the public.

“Considering the unjustified denial of the FOI Request, Petitioner further inquired via email when the requested health records will be available,” De Leon said.

“Petitioner failed to get a response to his query as of the time of filing of this petition despite repeated follow-up.”

De Leon cited various “concerns” that prompted him to seek the high court’s intervention, including his claim that Duterte “was not able to answer questions intelligibly” during a press conference on March 12, 2020.

He also cited several instances when the President begged off from some engagements, often at the last minute, for health reasons.