PRESIDENT Duterte does not have cancer, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) officer-in-charge Eduardo Ano said yesterday, after the firebrand leader underwent tests in a private hospital.
The public has been clamouring for information about Duterte’s health after the 73-year-old missed two official events last week.
“He disclosed to us that the result of the test was negative, the one where they took samples from his intestines,” Año told reporters in an event posted on Facebook live by domestic news agencies.
Año said Duterte made the disclosure during a cabinet meeting on Monday night.
The president made an unscheduled visit to a hospital when doctors asked him to repeat digestive tract procedures three weeks after similar tests.
Duterte’s condition “is not serious” and will remain a confidential matter, his spokesman, Harry Roque, told a separate news briefing, declining either to confirm or deny the prior remarks of the acting interior chief.
“The president will abide by the constitution, but because it is not serious, he will treat his medical condition as confidential,” he said. Roque declined to give details of the test results and Duterte’s health. (Reuters)
