UPDATE: Duterte spokesman goes on leave
Palace Spokesman Harry Roque Jr. MALACAÑANG PHOTO
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman took a leave of absence for a couple of days before the start of the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2019 mid-term elections, an official of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) said on Monday.
Director Dennis Ting told reporters that Secretary Harry Roque Jr.’s leave would begin today but was not clear until when the leave would last.
Roque, in a separate message shared to reporters, said that he would have a “personal” trip abroad starting on Wednesday.
Roque also confirmed that he would not be joining the President in Bali, Indonesia, for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders’ Summit on October 11.
He also told reporters that Duterte has not talked to him since last week.
Roque’s sudden leave came days after Duterte told him to “stand by” and let go of his Senate run because he “does not have the support of the military” and because he would not win, anyway.
Instead, Duterte said he offered Roque another position, which he did not name.
Roque, in a hastily-called press briefing on Friday, said that he was “kept in the dark” on the President’s health.
He said that he would “think twice on his options” and have a decision by today.
Communications secretary Martin Andanar said over the weekend that the position Roque would be offered was that of press secretary.
In his press briefing, Roque said he was no longer an effective spokesman because he did not know everything about the President.
Roque last Thursday said that the President took a day off last Wednesday, as rumors swirled that the President was hospitalized.
Duterte’s top aide, Christopher “Bong” Go, also denied that Duterte was “admitted.”
That same day, however, Duterte confirmed that he went to the Cardinal Santos Medical Hospital in San Juan for an hour so his doctors could “take samples” from him.
Duterte said he was suffering from Barret’s esophagus, which means his normal esophageal cells, or tissue lining the esophagus, were being attacked by abnormal cells.
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