Duterte to Sison: I’m alive, ‘fairly healthy’

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, August 20, went live on a Facebook account of his closest aide and assured that he is alive and “fairly healthy.”

In a five-minute video posed by Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Duterte told communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison that he was not comatose as the latter alleged.

The 73-year-old Chief Executive made the remark after Sison spread rumors that the former has been comatose “since the afternoon or evening of Sunday, August 19.”

Duterte even bragged that he was having dinner with a “beautiful lady” called Vernice.

“I said, I’m alive, fairly healthy and having dinner with the beautiful lady from Davao. She’s Vernice. Only from Harvard. Babalik iyan (She’ll return there). I invited her to discuss many things along the way when she comes back,” the President said in a Facebook live using Go’s account.

“Okay pa naman ako. Sabi nila comatose? How can I be comatose with a beautiful lady? Kung comatose ako, makita ko si Vernice, talagang babangon ako. That’s it,” he added.

(I’m still okay. They said I’m comatose? How can I be comatose with a beautiful lady? If I’m comatose and I see Vernice, I will really rise. That’s it.)

Sison, in a Facebook post on Sunday, alleged that Duterte appeared to be sick when the latter attended the national conference of the San Beda Law fraternity Lex Talionis in Davao City on Saturday night, August 18.

Quoting guests at the event, Sison said the darkness of Duterte’s face “had become aggravated from its appearance the other day” and that his walk and handshake “had become more unstable.”

Duterte turned the tables on Sison, saying that it was the communist leader who is “in and out of the hospital” in the Netherlands, where he is currently self-exiled.

“Ikaw ‘yung comatose,” he told Sison, his former professor at the Lyceum University.

(You are the one who is in comatose.)

“Alam mo, ang totoo lang, nag-complain na rin ang Netherlands kasi labas pasok ka sa ospital, hindi ka naman daw nagbabayad. You are not paying and you are abusing the hospitality of the Netherlands,” he added.

(You know, the truth is the Netherlands is complaining because you are in and out of the hospital and you are not paying the hospital bills. You are not paying and you are abusing the hospitality of the Netherlands.)

Duterte said he is willing to accommodate Sison, if the communist leader wishes to return to the Philippines.

He, however, said he would send Sison to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, where he would have enough space and plenty of company.

He added that he wanted Sison to be alive for another 1,000 years, just like a guy in the Bible “who has been walking around the planet earth and he is not dying.”

“If you think that you are sick, come home and I will bring you to a place where it’s called Bilibid. Pero doon, I will provide you a space, the bed, and plenty to keep you company,” the President said.

“Joma, ang wish ko sa buhay, maski na wala ka ng silbi sa mundong ito, mabubuhay ka pa rin ng mga 1,000 years para ikot ng ikot ka na dito sa mundo, parang I think you are the reincarnation of the guy, it’s a biblical -- I don’t know if it’s in the book, in the bible,” he added.