Duterte on 'private time' after skipping Independence Day rites

MANILA, Philippines — After skipping the Independence Day rites in Manila last Monday, President Duterte spent “private time” Tuesday but Malacañang was quick to clarify that his health remains in “excellent” condition.

 

The 72-year-old Duterte has not had any public engagements since Monday. The president was last seen in public on Sunday, when he visited wounded soldiers in Cagayan de Oro and paid his last respects to eight fallen Marines in Pasay.

 

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said the president should be allowed some rest after a “brutal schedule.”

 

“The president is actually in excellent health, except for the fact that his schedule had been brutal,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

 

“You have to credit the president, considering everything that he has been... actually honoring the military dead, the civilian dead, and he has been actually going around. And, in fact, he would have wanted to be at the symbolic raising (of the flag) and honoring of the dead. So I think we need to allow him ... rest. He was actually on top of the situation. However, he also needed rest,” he added.

 

The president has been visiting military camps and giving speeches since coming back from Russia in late May. He had had to cut his official visit to Moscow short because of the clashes in Marawi City.

 

Asked whether the president received medical advice to scale back his activities, Abella said: “Well, I suppose, you know, frankly you don’t need medical advice in order to tell you that you should rest.”

 

“Your body tells you that, you know. So but anyway, having said that, he is resting these days,” he added.

 

Abella could not say until when the president would be spending the so-called private time.

 

“The appointments given to us are calibrated, given daily. There’s some long-term appointments yes. But as of today…we know that he has private time. Let’s all wish him well,” the presidential spokesman said.

 

On Monday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano said Duterte skipped the Independence Day ceremonies at Rizal Park because he was not feeling well but clarified that there was nothing to worry about his condition.

 

Vice President Leni Robredo led the flag-raising and wreath-laying rites in lieu of the president.