No coma, just kama

In another attempt to question President Rodrigo Duterte’s capability to lead this country, his political enemies made an issue of his health. They were quick in pointing out the Section 12 of Article 7 in the 1987 Constitution which states:

“In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national security and foreign relations and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, shall not be denied access to the President during such illness.”

Citing the Constitution, they have demanded the Palace to reveal the true health of the President as if they have any reason to believe that Malacañang is hiding the status of the health of the President. Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella already told the public that the President just took a short break to rest and if we take a look at the busy schedule of the President, we will understand that he earned a bit of time to rest.

Ever since President Duterte declared Martial law, he’s been visiting one army camp to another, visiting wounded soldiers and the wakes of those who were killed in action. However, it seems that there are people who just can’t stop making an issue out of everything about the President.

A Senator questioned his absence for the Independence Day celebration but never bothered to praise the actions of the President like visiting the wounded soldiers, going to the wakes of those who were killed in action, and reassuring them and their families that the government will take care of them. There are also some people who made a big deal of his absence and made up a lot of speculations about his health, even to the point that they’re saying he’s in a comatose state.

Pictures of the President were released to show that he is in a good condition but like I said, there are those who can’t help but make an issue out of everything. Some questioned one of the pictures and said that it was an old picture and when another set of pictures of the President were released, some made an issue of him wearing a leather jacket as if it was a plausible argument that wearing a leather jacket shows that the President’s health is dwindling.

Last Saturday, President Duterte made his first appearance to the public after several days and how does he react to those who are spreading rumors about his declining health? By cracking a joke:

“Hindi ako na-Coma, wrong spelling, nasa kama lang ako.” (I was not in a coma, wrong spelling, I was just in bed.)

A joke that is surely not funny to those who are making an issue of his health, and a big slap to the face of the power-hungry politicians who were probably hoping that this could be their time to shine, time to take back the power they’ve been craving for.

But this is the Duterte that we know and love, when you think you got him in the corner, he’ll just laugh at how far you are from reality.

Now, about the President taking time to rest, we have seen how much the President is working this past few weeks. No, actually we’ve seen him working hard for the country and the people ever since he took his oath as the 16th President of Philippines.

We have seen him working even during holidays. We have seen him working to build better relationship with our neighboring countries and garnering investment pledges that would certainly boost the economy of our country. We have seen him work hard to rid this country of illegal drugs and criminality. We have seen him work hard to give a better future for Filipinos, a change that the people have long been yearning for.

So, was his taking a much-needed break a big deal? Not to the people who support him and certainly not to the people who have seen how hard he’s working for the Filipinos. What happened has shown that there are a lot of people who trust President Duterte, that even if they don’t see him or even if he takes a short break they know that he is not neglecting his duty to the people like the other politicians want you to believe.

This has also shown us that certain individuals will stop at nothing and will do everything just to take back the power they once had, but just like their previous attempts, they have failed once again.