Duterte negative for cancer — Año

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte administers the oath to the new Career Executive Service Officers (CESOs) during a ceremony at the Rizal Hall of Malacañan Palace on September 27, 2018. TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

The medical tests that President Rodrigo Duterte underwent to resulted negative for cancer, according to Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) officer-in-charge Eduardo Año.

Año told reporters on Tuesday, October 9, that the President himself disclosed this development during their Cabinet meeting yesterday night.

“He disclosed to us that the result of the test was negative, the one where they took samples from his intestines,” the official said.

Upon hearing the good news, the Cabinet officials then congratulated Duterte, who even managed to utter a joke.

“Nag-joke pa nga siya sabi niya, ‘Alam niyo itong health natin parang baterya ‘yan eh, minsan negative, minsan positive’ (He even cracked a joke saying, ‘Our health is like a battery, sometimes it is negative, sometimes it is positive’),” the acting DILG secretary said.

The 73-year-old Chief Executive, last week, admitted in a speech before members of the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association, Inc. (PMAAAI) that he went to Cardinal Santos Medical Center for some medical tests.

He added that his Barretts’s esophagus, a complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), became ‘worse.’

“I have this Barrett and it has been bothering me since, ever since, dahil nga sa inom rin (because of drinking alcoholic beverages),” he said.

When he revealed this information to the public, Duterte was still uncertain about the state of his health but he said he will tell everyone if he has cancer.

Stated in Section 12 of Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, “In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shall not be denied access to the President during such illness.”

Duterte’s mouthpiece, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Jr., earlier said a “growth” was found in the President’s digestive tract.

“I think endoscopy was recommended from his own words ha, in the general staff command conference, because they wanted just to be sure that there was a growth, and they wanted to know more about the growth,” Roque said.

Endoscopy is a procedure wherein a doctor will examine one’s digestive tract using an endoscope, a long flexible tube with a camera attached to it.

Roque added that Duterte had undergone a “general exam,” but after which, doctors “wanted a more specific exam, zeroing in on something.”

Duterte’s critics have been calling on the President to be transparent on the real score of his health condition.