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MANILA (TO UPDATE) – A lawyer has asked the Supreme Court to compel Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to reveal within 7 days his latest results from medical, psychological and psychiatric exams, health bulletins and other health records since he took office.
“Do we still have a physically and mentally healthy president? Is he still the one who makes the decisions to manage and end the current crisis?” Attorney Dino de León asked in his extremely urgent Mandamus petition filed with the Supreme Court on Monday, citing the constitutional right of the people to know.
De Leon noted Duterte’s “pale condition” in his later appearances, calling his statements “incoherent, insensitive and full of unintelligible rumblings.”
He claimed that the president appears to be physically wrong, his statements resembling those of a “drunk monologue.”
“As the country continues to struggle against the disastrous and multidimensional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there may be no other time more appropriate than today to assure the Philippine people that its executive president, the person chosen to lead the nation during these Attempts sometimes – he is undoubtedly capable of handling developing and post-crisis situations, ”said De Leon.
ABS-CBN News has reached out to Malacañang for comment, but has not yet received a response as of publication.
A mandamus petition compels a court, corporation, board, official, or person to fulfill an unlawfully neglected ministerial duty.
Respondents named as defendants are President Duterte and the Office of the President through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
De Leon listed 21 occasions in which Duterte asked not to appear at the last minute and 5 periods of prolonged absences in public view ranging from 5 to 7 days.
Saying that he was “deeply concerned” about the President’s health, De Leon said he filed a request for freedom of information with the President’s Office, but his request was denied.
The request for mandamus is anchored in section 12, art. VII of the 1987 Constitution that requires the President to inform the public of the state of his health in case of serious illness.
De Leon argued that the diseases previously reported by Duterte are “serious”.
According to De Leon, Duterte previously said that he has myasthenia gravis, Buerger’s disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), Barrett’s esophagus in addition to “spinal problems” and “daily migraines.”
De Leon also claimed that the president could have an “arteriovenous fistula,” as shown by an abnormally large bulging vein in his left arm.
The AV fistula, he said, could be congenital or acquired through complications in cardiac catheterization or surgical creation for hemodialysis, according to information on online websites and encyclopedias.
But he also acknowledged that the President’s bulging vein may be the “physical symptom of thrombosis” due to Buerger’s disease.
De Leon used Duterte’s prior admission to take Fentanyl against him, saying that a common side effect of Fentanyl is “unusual thinking”.
“Therefore, a person taking fentanyl would have a hard time keeping clear thinking and lucidity,” he said.
To justify resorting to a mandamus petition, De Leon said that given the seriousness of the diseases openly recognized by the PRRD, public disclosure of his medical bulletins becomes a “ministerial duty” at the request of any interested citizen. Mandamus can only compel the performance of ministerial tasks.
In addition, De Leon also said that his request was based on the right of individuals to be informed of matters that affect them under section 7, Article III of the 1987 Constitution.
“The public must know whether the one entrusted to the command of the government is still in a position to lead the bureaucracy, or to put it a little more forcefully, is really the one taking the reins when facing what could possibly be the greatest threat to our nation, “he said.
