Duterte back in Davao, still on ‘private time’

President Duterte. MALACANANG PHOTO

Davao City—President Duterte arrived here on Thursday night on board a private jet after taking “private time” in Manila beginning on Monday.

He remains well, Malacañang said on Friday, amid continued speculation about the President’s health when he skipped what would have been his first Independence Day celebration as Chief Executive on Monday.

Mr. Duterte is fine, said presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella. “Just to assure you, he’s all right,” he told reporters in a press briefing.

Military sources said the President arrived at Davao City around 8 p.m. on Thursday with presidential assistant Christopher Lawrence Go, Presidential Security Group commander Brig. Gen. Lope Dagoy and Brig. Gen. Allen Paredes, commander of the 250th Airlift Wing of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The group left Villamor Air Base at 6:30 p.m.

President Duterte had not been seen in public since Sunday night when he led the welcome honors for soldiers killed in Marawi City at the Villamor Air Base.  He later went to the Philippine Marine headquarters to meet with the Marines’ grieving families.

Photographs

Mr. Duterte’s absence since Sunday started speculations that he was sick.  But on Thursday afternoon, Go released photos of the President that he said were taken inside Bahay Pagbabago, the President’s official residence.

Also released early on Thursday evening were a series of photographs of the President before he took off for Davao.

The Presidential Communications Office did not announce any scheduled activity in Davao.

Abella said the President was planning to meet his Cabinet sometime next week, but could not say whether it would be in Manila or Davao.

A Cabinet member, who asked not to be named, denied a tweet that said the President called a Cabinet meeting at dawn on Friday.

Also on Friday, a military official said the President continued to receive updates on the situation in Marawi even after he took a break and kept himself out of the public eye since Sunday.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, AFP spokesperson, said the latest command conference with Mr. Duterte was held last week when the latter visited a military camp.

But even without a command conference, he continued to give “guidance” to the AFP chief of staff and the defense secretary, Padilla said.

“We have telephones. We have secured facilities where he could call and talk to our senior leaders,” he added.

Security officials also submit daily updates to the President about the situation in Marawi, which are given to his staff who brief him every day, according to Padilla.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Friday sought to allay public uncertainty brought about by President Duterte’s prolonged furlough.

“If the President is sick, Malacañang has the obligation to inform the public, but if [he] is merely resting or doesn’t feel well or has a slight fever, flu or [diarrhea], there is no reason to make a public announcement about that,” Pimentel said in a text message to reporters on Friday.

“Since there is no public statement then that means the cause of the absence of the President from the public eye is a minor one,” he added.

Public interest

But two opposition senators on Friday joined the call for Mr. Duterte to explain his absence from public functions.

“If the President has a medical condition preventing him from fulfilling his duties as Commander in Chief and is not simply ‘just resting’ then the public deserves to know the truth,” said Sen. Francis Pangilinan in a statement.

Sen. Leila de Lima said knowing the truth about the President’s state of health was both a matter of public interest and national security.

“Of course, it is well within constitutional bounds when [Malacañang] refuses to fully inform the public about the President’s ‘vacation,’ but it is also its moral obligation to go beyond what the Constitution requires,” De Lima said in a statement issued from her detention cell at Camp Crame.

“This is called transparency and accountability, two words that are already lost to this administration and its senior Cabinet officials,” she added.

Sen. Ping Lacson also described the President’s health as a matter of public concern.

“It behooves Malacañang to disclose the current state of health of the President if only to quell any speculation about his health. The public deserves nothing less,” he said in a statement. —WITH A REPORT FROM JOSELLE R. BADILLA