MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte does not need to show to the public some proof that he is doing his duties as the commander-in-chief because that is “not his style.”
Malacañang made this pronouncement Monday in the wake of the clamor for Duterte to surface since he has not been in public for at least a week now and amid record-highs in COVID-19 deaths and reports of coronavirus patients overflowing inside and outside hospitals.
What has been surfaced so far were photos of Duterte jogging, golfing, and riding his motorcycle at Malacañang grounds courtesy of his long-time assistant and now legislator, Senator Bong Go, after canceling his public address twice last week.
According to presidential spokesman Harry Roque, Duterte is “on top of the situation” and has been dispensing his responsibilities as needed, including deciding on quarantine classifications, as well as supervision of COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and rollout.
“Ang assumption niyo, kinakailangan magpakita para patunay na nagtatrabaho si Presidente. Hindi ganun ang estilo ng ating Presidente,” he said in a Palace briefing.
(Your assumption is, the President needs to show that he is working. That is not his style.)
READ: Golf-playing, motorbike-riding Duterte chills before public address on Monday
“Hindi naman niya kinakailangang ipagmayabang sa publiko na siya ay nagtatrabaho.”
(He does not need to boast to the public that he is working.)
“Ang taong bayan naman ay naniniwala naman na talagang on top of the situation ang President even if hindi niya pinangangalandakan ito sa taumbayan,” Roque continued.
(The public believes that the President is on top of the situation even though he is not showing this to the people.)
The Duterte mouthpiece even said that the President is thinking of the nation “24/7.”
The President was last seen publicly on March 29 when he personally received the delivery of one million doses of Sinovac vaccines and held his last regular public address “Talk to the People.”
His drawn-out absence from the public eye has led to questions about his health.