Lawyer to SC: Reverse junking of plea to disclose Duterte health status

Supreme Court of the Philippines. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Lawyer Dino de Leon has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its move to junk his petition calling for the disclosure of President Rodrigo Duterte’s health records and to start oral arguments on the case.

In his motion filed last July 24, De Leon said the High Court, in junking his petition, “missed an opportunity to interpret a vital provision of the Constitution.”

He also said the SC made a “reversible error” when it made a determination that the President is healthy “without sufficient factual basis other than his recent physical appearance in meetings.”

“The duty of the President to disclose the status  of his health is clearly of transcendental importance to the nation. This is especially made crucial by the fact that in the same public cabinet meetings the Honorable Court cited to justify its decision to summarily dismiss the Petition, the President has repeatedly made incorrigible rumblings and, in numerous occasions, appeared unwell,” the motion read.

“The Honorable Court appear to have made a mistake when it seemed to have cherry-picked the actions, statements, and circumstances of the President which warrant judicial cognizance. Simply put, if the Honorable Court has really seen the late-night cabinet meetings of the President, then surely, it is assumed to have likewise listened to his incoherent mumblings,” it added.

De Leon further said the SC should give the public the chance to appear before the High Court to argue on why their Constitutional right to be informed of the health status of the President is applicable to them.

Last April, De Leon asked the SC to compel the President to disclose his latest medical and psychological/psychiatric examination results as well as health bulletins and other health records ever since he assumed the presidency.

In May, the SC junked his petition.

JPV