Palace quells talk anew of sick Duterte
Credit to Author: besguerra| Date: Sun, 19 May 2019 23:26:27 +0000
MANILA, Philippines — Amid speculation on social media that President Rodrigo Duterte was confined in hospital after suffering a heart attack, Malacañang on Sunday released a picture of the Chief Executive with his friend and former aide Christopher “Bong” Go snacking on “pancit” (noodles), with a copy of the Inquirer’s Sunday edition on the table.
The picture was sent by Go to prove that the President, who had not been seen in public for five days, was not at a hospital in San Juan City, where, according to buzz on social media, he was taken after he had a heart attack.
“There is no truth to the rumor circulating that President Duterte is confined in Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Sunday.
“The President is in his residence at the Palace signing papers. I just talked to him, he is neither confirming nor denying that he went to the hospital,” Panelo said.
‘Big shot’ in hospital
On Sunday morning, social media erupted with talk that a “big shot” was confined at Cardinal Santos Medical Center and that the hospital was on “code blue,” referring to a patient suffering from cardiopulmonary arrest.
Some speculated that the patient was the President, who had not been seen in public since he voted at his polling precinct in Monday’s midterm elections in his hometown Davao City.
Malacañang had not released a schedule of the President’s activities since Tuesday
The President’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, said she did not know where her father was.
“The President and I do not keep in touch. We only talk when we see each other during special family occasions. I do not know his schedule or his whereabouts,” she said. “I have no news of sickness or death.”
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea simply dismissed talk of the President being in hospital as “not true.”
“I really don’t know if he has a sked. Let’s give him a break. [He’s] probably in his quarters and resting,” Medialdea said when asked if the President had activities lined up for the day.
‘Well and good’
The Presidential Security Group also gave assurance that the President was “well and good.”
The health of the 74-year-old leader has been the subject of speculation since 2016 because of his occasional disappearances.
In September 2016, the President missed several events at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Laos because of a “bad headache.”
During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru, in November 2016, the President missed the gala dinner and the shoot for the traditional class picture. In a note to his hosts, he said he was sick.
In June 2017, he dropped out of public sight for a week.
Comatose?
In August last year, he disappeared for two days, with Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison reporting he had been taken ill and was comatose.
On the third day, however, the Palace released a picture showing the President and Go dining with an unidentified woman in a hotel in Iloilo City.
In October last year, the President missed two official events and a Cabinet meeting. He later disclosed that he had himself tested for colon cancer and still later reported that the tests came back negative.
During the Asean summit in Singapore in November last year, he missed four events and the gala dinner hosted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Malacañang said the President missed the events because he was taking “power naps.”
Earlier this month, the President did his work in Davao City for a week.
To show that there was nothing wrong with him, the Palace released a picture showing him in bed watching a movie on Netflix.
A poll taken by Social Weather Stations in September last year showed that 45 percent of Filipinos believed the President had health problems.
Sixty-one percent said they held that the state of his health was a public matter.
The President has publicly admitted to suffering from daily migraines and other ailments, including Buerger’s disease, a condition that affects the veins in the limbs and is usually caused by smoking.—With reports from Orlando Dinoy and Inquirer Research