Duterte bares he has myasthenia gravis

MOSCOW, Russia — President Rodrigo Duterte bared on Saturday that he has myasthenia gravis — “a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the skeletal muscles,” as defined by U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Speaking before the Filipino community in Moscow, the President said he got myasthenia gravis from his grandfather.

He disclosed this as he was joking about trying to keep eye contact with a Filipino woman based in Russia, who sang a duet with him before his speech.

“I looked at her, as I did earlier, but I wanted to look at her eyes. But one of my eyes was focused on her eyes. My other eye kept moving about everywhere. That’s how I am. I have this talent. I look at you and one eye moves down. See, my other eye is small. That moves around on its own,” he said in Filipino.

“That’s myasthenia gravis. It’s a nerve malfunction. I got it from exactly from my grandfather. He also had that. So, I believe really in genetics. What he had, I got,” he added.

Before this, the President said in jest that he would like to sing with the Filipino woman once more before he could be executed for taking responsibility for his administration’s brutal drug war.

“But if the time comes when there is an accounting for everything and somebody has to be… well, I said, That’s all on me. I give the orders,” he said.

“I will answer for that. So, at the end of my term maybe I will face a firing squad. Maybe they will hang me or [put me on an] electric chair,” he added. “Ah, I will say then: Before you kill me, sir, please call the singer from Russia who sang when I was there. We will just do a duet of ‘Ikaw.’ Then I will look at her, as I did earlier. But I would like to look into her eyes. One eye would be on her eyes. My other eye will keep rolling about everywhere.”

“Ikaw,” a song composed by Louie Ocampo and George Canseco, is one of the President’s favorite songs.

The President had earlier revealed that he had undergone colonoscopy and endoscopy and that he had been undergoing regular blood tests.

The 74-year-old chief executive also previously admitted suffering from Buerger’s disease, migraine, and back pains due to smoking in his youth.

/atm