(Eagle News) — No, the President is not ill.
In fact, President Rodrigo Duterte appears to have been fully recharged after taking some days off to rest following his very hectic schedule in Mindanao, where he visited various military camps and hospitals where police and soldiers who were wounded in action were being treated, and also visited various wakes of those killed in the Marawi fighting which has entered its fourth week.
In this video released by Malacanang, President Duterte is shown saluting soldiers as he visited Villamor Air Base in Taguig City after alighting from a helicopter. He was accompanied by his trusted aide, Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go.
The President later flew to Davao City, arriving there Thursday night.
The video and photos released by the Palace were in answer to rumors that he was seriously ill after he was not seen in public since Monday.
He was last seen on Sunday night, June 11, when he led the arrival honors for the Marines killed in action in Marawi City, also in Villamor Air Base. He flew to Villamor that night from Cagayan de Oro City where he visited a military camp and talked to soldiers and policemen wounded in action, giving them a morale booster.
During the arrival honors for the Marines killed in action, he condoled with their families, and then visited the headquarters of the Philippine Marines and the mortuary of the Libingan ng mga Bayani for the wake of the other members of the Marines who were killed while fighting the Islamist terrorists.
This was the first time that President Duterte took a few days off since he came into office in June last year.
He is known for his very hectic schedule.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the President needed to take “some time off to rejuvenate.”
“After all, you have to consider that he has been on the road for at least 23 days, fulfilling his martial law supervision, so it has been really brutal, so we have to allow him this kind of rest,” Abella said in a recent press briefing.
