EDITORIAL - Lay these worries to rest.

Following an extended period in which President Rodrigo Duterte has not been seen in public, some people raised concerns about his health, prompting his spokesman Harry Roque, and later his daughter, Sara Duterte Carpio, to go on television to assure that the president is doing okay.

One petitioner has even gone as far as to approach the Supreme Court asking for full public disclosure of the president’s health records.

The Supreme Court has denied the request, but we hope that it will reconsider. The health of the president is a matter of public interest after all.

The president is not just any ordinary man, he is a government official. Then again, he is not just any ordinary government official, he happens to be the highest one in the land. While the decision and policies of other officials only take effect within a certain area or a certain group of people, he is expected to make decisions and policies that will affect and change the lives of all 100 million people Filipinos in the country and the millions more abroad.

This is why the state of the president’s health is not something that should be kept from the public.

Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t looking for sordid details that can be used against him --or worse, details that should not be made public. We are looking for concrete proof to the assurances that he is doing as well as they say he is.

Another thing that can lay worries to rest is news about his well-being coming from a credible source, at least where his health is concerned.

Well, yes, Roque and Carpio assured us that he is doing well and good. However, their assurances don’t carry the same weight as a statement from someone who has authority when it comes to health concerns, like a doctor.

If indeed Duterte is doing well --and for the sake of the nation we hope he is-- we want to hear this news from someone who is a professional in the medical field and someone who is intimately familiar with the president’s health, not from those who have a vested interest in always upholding the president.