A Duterte frat member backs Palace’s statement
(Eagle News) –The Palace on Monday, Aug. 20, denied the claim of Jose Maria Sison, Communist Party of the Philippines’ founder, that President Rodrigo Duterte was ill.
“Absolutely false. Perhaps that is the wish of (Sison) hence when he is fed with the wrong information on (Duterte’s) health, he easily believes it,” Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said.
According to Panelo, the President was “in robust health.”
Ruell Garcia, a member of Duterte’s fraternity who attended the organization’s event where Sison noted Duterte’s alleged lack of strength, agreed, saying the President, during the convention over the weekend, was “stronger” than any other person his age.
In a Facebook post, Garcia said that the President “stood straight at the podium for his message for almost an hour, and not one physical distraction ever interrupted his wits, humour, candour and astuteness.”
Garcia said he was seated “more or less 10 meters from the podium, standing at least 2 meters from where the president passes upon arrival, sitting about 1 and half meter at the stage for the photo ops, and less than an inch when we had shaken our hands.”
“Unlike conclusion that Digong is out of mind and incoherent in his blows, the president was sharp and was precise with details of his words. He pinpointed people, places, events, things, ideas, and legal principles with 100% accuracy. Further, he was very consistent with his goal of cleaning the country from crimes, drugs and corruption, and was humble enough to admit that it has been hard but reassuring everyone that he is not backing out,” Garcia said.
He said the President “only expressed fear that when time will pave a way of replacing him as president… of the vulnerability, not that he doesn’t like Leny, of the VP from the charlatans and opportunists surrounding her, and lead the country to its worst again.”
“Believe it or not, Digong is radiantly inspiring,” he said.
In a Facebook post, Sison said that those who saw the President during the event “reported that the darkness of his face had become aggravated from its appearance the other day and that his walk and handshake had become more unstable.”
“The latest report (still to be verified or negated) is that Duterte has gone into a coma since the afternoon or evening of ..Sunday, Aug. 19,” Sison had said.