MANILA, Philippines — After a week of staying away from the public eye and working from his Davao City home, President Rodrigo Duterte returned to the Palace on Monday where he is expected to preside over this month’s Cabinet meeting.
The President chose to work from home last week after a “punishing schedule” during his trip to Beijing the week before, Malacañang said.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the President only wanted to focus on his work that piled up during the time that he was out of the country.
He added at a press briefing: “He has a lot of documents that he should read and sign, and it piled up already. So he decided to stay in the house and work on them.”
Watching Netflix
Last weekend, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat shared with the media a photograph showing the President in bed while watching a movie on Netflix.
The Palace said the photo was given by the President himself to put to rest any speculation that he might be ill.
“The only reason why he showed the picture watching TV and reading the newspaper at the same time is to ease concerns that he is sick. He wanted to say, he’s OK. That’s the only reason,” Panelo said.
The Palace also criticized the President’s detractors for speculating about his health and doubting his work ethic because he was shown watching a movie on Netflix.
Prefers working at night
Panelo explained that the President usually preferred working at night whenever he works from home, and goes to sleep around 6 or 7 a.m.
The President still gets a full eight hours of sleep a day, Panelo added.
The President’s first public appearance for this week was past midnight on Monday at the wake of former House Speaker Prospero Nograles at Heritage Park in Taguig City.
The Palace said the Preisdent arrived at the wake at 12:12 a.m. and stayed for two hours to pay his respects to Nograles, his erstwhile rival in local politics.