SC junks petition seeking disclosure of Duterte's health records

The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed a petition seeking the disclosure of President Rodrigo Duterte's health records.

The court en banc voted 13-2 to dismiss the petition filed by lawyer Dino de Leon, a source said Friday. The tribunal did not require the respondents to comment.

SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka confirmed the denial of the petition but said he could not confirm how the court voted because he has not seen a copy of the resolution.

Filed last month, de Leon's petition asked the SC to issue a writ of mandamus compelling the Office of the President to disclose "copies of the latest medical and psychological/psychiatric examination results, health bulletins, and other health records of the President" since he assumed office in 2016.

The petition also wanted the President to be compelled to submit to additional confirmatory medical and psychological/psychiatric examinations and to release the results to the public as soon as they were available.

De Leon said Duterte's public addresses on the COVID-19 emergency were "incoherent, unresponsive, and filled with unintelligible rumblings," also pointing out his "pallid condition" and his appearance of being "physically unwell."

The lawyer also noted that the president had "noticeably disappeared from the public from time to time" even before the COVID-19 crisis emerged.

De Leon argued that his request for Duterte's health records was in line with the public's right to be informed of matters that affect them. He claimed that Duterte's several medical conditions provided a "reasonable basis to be worried about the health of the President."

Section 12, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution requires the disclosure of the state of the president's health in case of "serious illness." — DVM, GMA News