Filtered By: Topstories
News

Duterte has no serious illness —Roque


President Rodrigo Duterte has no illness serious enough that he is constitutionally mandated to divulge it, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Tuesday.

Roque's remark, made during a press briefing in Malacañang, came at the heels of acting Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año's statement that the President told them during a Cabinet meeting Monday night that he was tested negative for cancer.

"He disclosed to us that the result of the test was negative, the one where they took samples from his intestines," Año told reporters.

Asked to confirm what Año had said, Roque said he could neither deny nor confirm it "because I am not privy to that information." He also said he did not hear Duterte say he tested negative for cancer.

"It may not be the complete quote from the President," Roque said.

"What I can say is that the conclusion is his condition is not serious," he said.

Duterte last week admitted that he underwent tests in a private hospital.

Roque, however, said he has no information on the results of the test.

"There is no consensus as to what extent his condition will be divulged, but we will abide by the provision of the Constitution," he said. "Whatever the President has, it is not serious for the constitutional provision to apply."

Under the Constitution, the public should be made aware of the state of health of a sitting president. If the leader dies in office, permanently disabled or removed through impeachment, the vice president succeeds to serve the remaining years in a six-year, single term.

"What I can say is that the decision made was that unless the President has serious illness, he would like to keep his medical condition private and confidential," Roque as he urged the public to "wait for the President's disclosure." —KBK, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT