Palace: No need to disclose Duterte’s health records

MALACANANG said Wednesday that there is no need to disclose President Rodrigo Duterte’s medical records because he is “in the best of health.”

“As far as I can see, there’s really no need to do that (release Duterte’s health records),” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella told Palace reporters.

On Tuesday, Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairperson Jose Maria Sison challenged the President to explain his hiatus last June.

Sison made the challenge after Duterte, his former student, revealed in his State of the Nation Address that the communist leader is suffering from colon cancer. Sison dismissed Duterte’s claim as a “blatant lie.”

“This (Duterte’s accusation) is a blatant lie. No findings of cancer of any kind, cardiac problem or any other malignancy, which is life threatening,” Sison said in a statement.

“It is Duterte who has to explain

his disappearances for medical reasons because the public entitled to know everything that pertains to his suitability for public office,” he added.

The word war between Sison and Duterte continues to heat up following the government’s decision to end the peace negotiations with the communist rebels.

Abella, however, said that he sees no reason for the President to show his medical records to the public just to prove that he is physically fit to perform his duties.

“Those are two different issues. The President has again and again declared [his health condition]. And as we can see, he is pretty much in control of his physiology. He seems to be in the best of health,” Abella said.

On June 19, former senator Francisco Tatad said in his opinion piece published at newspaper Manila Times that the 72-year-old President suffered from a mild stroke that affected on his arms.

Abella, however, had denied Tatad’s allegations, which he deemed as just the former senator’s “fantasies” because the President is not facing any “major” sickness. SunStar Philippines