Presidential candidates Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Jejomar Binay.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
Vice President Jejomar Binay on Wednesday said the voters should be allowed to judge the psychological fitness of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to govern.
But Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, president of Duterte’s party, the PDP-Laban, said the public should not “nitpick” about the presidential front-runner’s personality and psychological condition.
“If all of us will undergo a psychological examination, all of us will be found to have a flaw,” Pimentel said when asked for comment about the psychological report used in the annulment case of Duterte and his former wife, Elizabeth Zimmerman-Duterte.
Asked about Duterte’s psychological evaluation, reported by ABS-CBN on Wednesday, Binay said candidates were not required to submit a medical certificate so psychological disorder was not a ground for disqualification from the election.
But he said it was “high time” candidates were required to undergo medical exam, including psychological evaluation.
“Let voters know his physical and mental condition,” Binay said, referring to Duterte.
“I think it’s high time. Perhaps it’s just right. Imagine if you were sick but you did not disclose it, my vote for you was wasted,” he said.
The presidential standard-bearer of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance said Duterte’s alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City was more alarming than his psychological condition.
“His pronouncement that he will continue extrajudicial killings is unlawful. His statements are his platform, and violation of human rights is unlawful. But I don’t know if it is still timely for someone to bring a petition for his disqualification over his pronouncements,” Binay said.