SC upholds junking of suit to disclose PRRD’s health records

FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signs into law the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) during a ceremony at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on September 11, 2020. KING RODRIGUEZ/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld its earlier decision dismissing for lack of merit a suit seeking the disclosure of President Rodrigo Duterte’s health records from the time he assumed the presidency.

In a four-page resolution dated Sept. 8 and released Friday, the SC through Clerk of Court Edgar O. Aricheta said the court’s resolution last May dismissing the extremely urgent petition for mandamus filed by lawyer Dino de Leon is deemed final.

No further pleadings or motions shall be entertained in the case, the tribunal said.

“In view of the petitioner’s failure to allege a prima facie case for mandamus, the Court found it unnecessary to address the other matters raised in the petition. In the same vein, there is no reason for the Court to belabor the point considering that the instant motion presents no substantial argument to support a case for mandamus, much less to warrant the reversal of the resolution,” the tribunal added.

In May, the high court junked the petition filed by de Leon seeking to compel Malacañang to disclose all the medical results and health bulletins of the President and to compel him to undergo “confirmatory medical examinations” for lack of merit.

The court noted that in recent months, the President has been visibly holding regular Cabinet meetings. This, the SC said, belies the “petitioner’s insinuation that the President is suffering from serious illnesses”.

De Leon filed the petition last April 13 claiming the President has been absent from engagements and also had prolonged absences from public view.