{"id":254294,"date":"2020-05-08T07:20:02","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T11:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=254294"},"modified":"2020-05-08T07:20:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T11:20:02","slug":"plea-to-divulge-health-records-just-aims-to-distract-prrd-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/08\/plea-to-divulge-health-records-just-aims-to-distract-prrd-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Plea to divulge health records just aims to distract PRRD: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte updates the nation on the government’s efforts in addressing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malaca\u00f1ang on April 27, 2020. KARL NORMAN ALONZO\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 There are no legal and factual grounds to compel President Rodrigo R. Duterte to disclose his health records, Malaca\u00f1ang said Friday.<\/div>\n
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Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement as he welcomed the Supreme Court\u2019s (SC) decision junking the petition seeking the release of Duterte\u2019s medical records and health bulletins.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe note the latest decision of the Supreme Court dismissing the petition to disclose the President\u2019s health records,\u201d Roque said in a press statement.<\/div>\n
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During his commentary show aired on state-run PTV-4, Chief Legal Spokesperson Salvador Panelo announced that 13 SC justices voted against the petition while only two magistrates dissented.<\/div>\n
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\u201cNaglabas po ang Korte Suprema ng desisyon doon sa<\/em>\u00a0finile nitong abugado na pinipilit ang Pangulong Duterte na maglabas ng<\/em>\u00a0findings\u00a0sa kaniyang kalusugan. Dinismiss po<\/em>\u00a0outright (The Supreme Court released a decision on the petition of a lawyer compelling President Duterte to release the findings on the status of his health. The petition was dismissed outright),\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

In a message to reporters, SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka confirmed the junking of the petition.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
“I confirm the denial of the petition, but I have not seen the actual resolution of the Court yet. Hence, I cannot confirm how the Court voted. It would be best that we wait for the actual resolution of the Court and read it in its entirety,” Hosaka said.<\/div>\n
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In a petition filed in April, lawyer Dino de Leon said the public release of Duterte\u2019s medical bulletins was necessary, \u201cgiven the gravity of the illnesses openly acknowledged by the President.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Roque said he believed the petition was lodged to distract Duterte who is currently busy exhausting all efforts to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe maintain that the petition has no legal and factual bases. We believe it is designed to distract the President from his job and erode the confidence of the Filipinos (in) PRRD\u2019s leadership, particularly in this time when we are confronted with (an) extreme health crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Panelo also welcomed the high tribunal\u2019s decision, noting that Duterte, 75, need not divulge his health records because he has \u201cno serious illness.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cSo\u00a0walang batayan. Napakaliwanag naman po kasi na wala siyang malubhang sakit<\/em>\u00a0(So there is no basis [to compel Duterte to release his health records]. It\u2019s very clear that he has no serious illness). He has no serious illness,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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Duterte can only be forced to divulge his medical bulletins if he is seriously ill, Panelo said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cUnder the Constitution,\u00a0ang pangulo ng bansa ay kino<\/em>-compel\u00a0na magbigay siya ng kalagayan ng kaniyang kalusugan kung siya ay may malubahang sakit. Iyan lamang po ang panahon na maaari nating pilitin ang isang presidente ng bansa<\/em>\u00a0(Under the Constitution, the president of a country can only be compelled to disclose the real status of his health if he has a serious illness. That\u2019s the only time we can force the president of a country),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Article 7, Section 12 of the 1987 Constitution mandates the President to declare the real status of his health \u201cin case of serious illness.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roque said Duterte would continue doing his job, especially now that the country grapples with the Covid-19 crisis.<\/div>\n
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\u201cMoving forward, President Duterte continues to attend to the affairs of the State as he monitors developments in the country, particularly the Covid-19 situation, and gives instructions to his Cabinet members on various efforts to fight this global health scare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte is suffering from muscle spasms, chronic back pains, and migraines. He also has myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease that weakens skeletal muscles responsible for breathing and moving parts of the body.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The President has also admitted that he has Barrett\u2019s esophagus, a potentially serious complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease, and Buerger\u2019s disease, a rare disease of the arteries and veins in the arms and legs.<\/p>\n

Despite his age and health problems, Duterte has repeatedly assured the public that he remains fit to work and can fulfill his mandate as the country\u2019s highest elected official.\u00a0(With reports from Benjamin Pulta\/PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 There are no legal and factual grounds to compel President Rodrigo R. Duterte to disclose his health records, Malaca\u00f1ang …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":253583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254294","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=254294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254295,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254294\/revisions\/254295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}