{"id":200715,"date":"2019-02-03T22:06:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T03:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=200715"},"modified":"2019-02-03T22:06:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T03:06:52","slug":"duterte-quips-about-death-hoax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/03\/duterte-quips-about-death-hoax\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte quips about death hoax"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: A screenshot from a video shared by President Rodrigo R. Duterte\u2019s partner, Cielito \u2018Honeylet\u2019 Avance\u00f1a on her Facebook account to deny rumors of the President\u2019s death. (via PNA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— After skipping an event in Palo, Leyte on Friday afternoon, President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday debunked widespread rumors of his demise by going live on Facebook.<\/p>\n

In a series of live videos shared by his partner, Cielito \u201cHoneylet\u201d Avance\u00f1a on her Facebook account, Duterte was shown sitting across her on a table in their house in Davao City, while being shown a copy of a newspaper.<\/p>\n

Duterte poked fun of reports of his death by addressing viewers that he would schedule an interview with \u201cGod.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old President also asked clergymen to send out a message if they had any and drug pushers to make their last wishes because he would send them to either heaven or hell.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy reaction to my passing away. I will ask God first if I\u2026if he\u2019s available for interview\u00a0kasi pupunta na ako dun<\/em>\u00a0(because I\u2019m going there),\u201d Duterte said in the video uploaded past 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cAno mga mensahe ninyo? Dadalhin ko. Pari, obsipo, lahat. And yung last wish ng mga durugista, ilista ninyo. Ako na ang magdala doon sa langit o sa impiyerno. Depende lang<\/em>\u00a0(What are your messages? I\u2019ll relay them. Priests, bishops, everyone. And the last wishes of drug pushers, lists them. I\u2019ll bring them to either to heaven or hell. It will depend),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte also quipped about asking viewers to pray for his eternal rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who believe in the news that I passed away, then I request of you, please pray for the eternal repose of my soul. Thank you,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Former Special Assistant to the President Christopher \u201cBong\u201d Go, in a message to reporters, also quashed rumors about the President\u2019s death, assuring that he was \u201cfine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot true.\u00a0Nasa Davao po siya<\/em>\u00a0(He is in Davao). He is fine,\u201d Go said.<\/p>\n

Not Superman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier, Malaca\u00f1ang reminded the public that the President is just an ordinary human who does not feel well at times, but this did not mean it was a cause of worry.<\/p>\n

“Well, he is not Superman, every person does not feel well sometimes. I don’t think that the President cancelling an event in Tacloban because he is not feeling well is a cause of concern,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the President should be admired for knowing when to prioritize his health.<\/p>\n

“We should in fact commend the President for knowing when to cancel a trip and resting his body if he is not feeling his usual strong self,” he added.<\/p>\n

Ready to rumble<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quoting Panelo, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea also rejected rumors about the President\u2019s demise saying he was \u201cready to rumble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s (Duterte\u2019s)\u00a0okay and ready to rumble. Hindi naman siya si Superman. Siya ay tao po laman na paminsan-minsan ay (<\/em>He\u2019s only human who sometimes is) \u2018not feeling well,\u2019\u201d Medialdea said.<\/p>\n

In January this year, Panelo also reassured the public that Duterte was in good health after a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted on Dec. 16-19, 2018 showed that 66 percent of Filipinos are worried about the President\u2019s health, an increase of 11 percent from Sept. 2018’s 55 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cA grateful President assures the nation that there is no cause for worry as he is in a fine state of health, and his punishing schedule of activities in attending and responding to the needs of the citizenry is proof of his good physical condition,\u201d Panelo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven as he performs his constitutional duties, he shall endeavor to always watch over his health,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In August 2018, Duterte also disproved the rumor spread by Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison that he is in coma by going live on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— After skipping an event in Palo, Leyte on Friday afternoon, President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday debunked widespread rumors …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":200716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}