MANILA - Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte does not have cancer, the acting interior minister said
on Tuesday, 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,"
Eduardo Ano told reporters in an event posted on Facebook live
by domestic news agencies.
Ano 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 minister.
"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.
"Let us wait for his disclosure. Anything that is
confidential can be waived by the person alone."
The Philippine constitution provides for the public to be
told of the state of health of an incumbent president, if
serious. If the leader dies in office, permanently disabled or
removed through impeachment, the vice president succeeds to
serve out the rest of a six-year, single term.
Vice President Leni Robredo, an opposition leader, was
elected separately in 2016 and could fuel uncertainty in the
succession process in a highly polarised political climate.
Duterte's health was a constant source of speculation after
he disappeared from public view for a week last year but his
aides dismissed rumours of his medical condition.
Over the weekend, Duterte was in Hong Kong with his partner
and young daughter on an unannounced trip, with his special
assistant, Bong Go, posting pictures of the family on social
media.