{"id":266479,"date":"2020-08-25T23:52:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T03:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=266479"},"modified":"2020-08-25T23:52:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T03:52:42","slug":"duterte-has-no-serious-illness-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/25\/duterte-has-no-serious-illness-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte has no serious illness: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte talks to the people after holding a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City on August 17, 2020. ROBINSON NI\u00d1AL JR.\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has no serious illness and continues to be \u201cfit and healthy\u201d despite his age, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of now, he (Duterte) has really no serious condition. And I\u2019d like to say to those who wish the President ill, sorry na lang po kayo (sorry to you) because God has given the President good health,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told CNN Philippines\u2019 The Source.<\/p>\n

Roque made the clarification after Duterte, 75, bared on Monday that his doctor had advised him to stop drinking as his Barrett\u2019s esophagus was \u201cnearing Stage 1 cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrett\u2019s esophagus is a condition in which tissue that is similar to the lining of the intestine replaces the tissue lining of the esophagus, according to the definition provided by the Washington-based National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases.<\/p>\n

People with Barrett\u2019s esophagus, the institute noted, are more likely to develop a rare type of cancer called esophageal adenocarcinoma.<\/p>\n

Roque clarified that the doctor\u2019s advice to Duterte was given \u201ca long time ago\u201d, before the former Davao City mayor became president.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you are talking of a medical advice that happened many years ago even prior to the presidency. And I think the reason why he precisely stopped drinking was to prevent (it) from developing into Stage 1 cancer. And that is the context of what the President said,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte is \u201creaping the harvest\u201d of heeding his doctor\u2019s medical advice because until now, he continues to enjoy good health, Roque said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is fit and healthy for a person his age,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why he doesn\u2019t drink, he doesn\u2019t smoke, he has no vices as president because he wants to be in good and healthy condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Very transparent\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte has no plan to hide anything about his health.<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old Chief Executive, he said, remains \u201cvery transparent\u201d when it comes to the real status of his health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the people should worry about lack of transparency because the President himself will say what his condition is,\u201d Roque said. \u201cAs far as the President\u2019s medical condition is concerned, take note that it comes from his own mouth. So it is not as if he\u2019s trying to hide anything. He\u2019s very transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from Barrett\u2019s esophagus, Duterte previously acknowledged that he has Buerger\u2019s disease, a rare disease of the arteries and veins in the arms and legs.<\/p>\n

The President also has myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease that weakens skeletal muscles responsible for breathing and moving parts of the body.<\/p>\n

He is also battling chronic back pains and migraines.<\/p>\n

In October 2018, Duterte announced to the public that the supposed \u201cgrowth\u201d found in his digestive tract tested negative for cancer.<\/p>\n

No need to worry<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under Article 7, Section 12 of the 1987 Constitution, the President is mandated to declare the real condition of his health \u201cin case of serious illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque assured that the people would be informed should Duterte learn that he is seriously ill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President is a lawyer. He knows what the Constitution provides, in case he has a serious illness. He would have to divulge his medical condition to the public. And I assure everyone that as officers of the court, the President and I will divulge any serious illness to the public pursuant to the Constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Asked how healthy Duterte is, Roque said, \u201cHe\u2019s healthy as any 75-year-old could be in the Philippines. And that is the reason why he regularly delivers his messages to the people so that they would know and see him and judge for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has no serious illness and continues to be \u201cfit and healthy\u201d despite his age, Malaca\u00f1ang said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":265676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","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\/266479","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=266479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":266480,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266479\/revisions\/266480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}