「日刊まにら新聞」ウェブ

A doctor's warning to President Rodrigo Duterte that he could be nearing a stage one cancer if he would not stop drinking was done long time ago, Malacanang said on Wednesday.

In an interview by CNN Philippines, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque maintained that Duterte was in good health.

"I think that the advice was given to him a long time ago when the President was still drinking. He has since stopped drinking and as far as I know, since he became President, he has not resumed drinking," he said.

"So, you are talking of a medical advice that happened many years ago, even prior to the presidency. And I think the reason why the President precisely stopped drinking was to prevent it from developing into stage one cancer, and that is the context of what the President said," he explained.

Duterte, in a taped televised message aired on Tuesday, said that his doctor told him to stop drinking and he could not even eat fatty foods.

"(Even if) you have the money, you cannot eat all because the doctor said don't eat the fats because you will die. 'You, Duterte, don't think because your Barret('s esophagus) is nearing a stage one cancer'," the President has said.

Roque said that based on the President's demeanor as what the people have been seeing everytime he addresses the public weekly, he is in a healthy condition.

"So, I think everyone saw how the President’s demeanor was. Cancer stage one for a prolonged period of time would need treatment including, well, treatment that would have adverse effects on his physical appearance even," he said, noting that so far, the people could not see anything serious about the President, like last Tuesday when he made his public message.

"As far as I know, there is no cancer and as I said if there is cancer and if it is a serious illness, he will be reporting it to the people," he added.

The Constitution compels the President to inform the public of the state of his health in case of serious illness.

Roque noted that the 75-year old President is a lawyer and he knew this provision of the Constitution.

"He (Duterte) is fit and healthy for a person of his age," he said.

He added that Duterte has been very transparent about his health condition, such as when he mentioned about two years ago that he had to undergo endoscopy.

"So, I don’t think the people should worry about lack of transparency because the President himself will say what his condition is. But, as of now, there’s really no serious condition," Roque said. Celerina Monte/DMS