Today marks the seventh day President Rodrigo Duterte has not made any public appearances.
Known for his packed schedules and long press conferences, this is the second time this month the president had been missing from the public eye for an extended period of time.
Duterte is the oldest person in history to become president of the Philippines. His first absence lasted for a period of five days from June 12 to 16, before appearing to deliver speeches to troops in northern Mindanao on June 17. Duterte explained then that was out of public sight for almost a week because he was “extremely tired.”
“Ang Pangulong Duterte ay (the president is) in the pink of health,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said today in a phone interview with DZMM, a radio affiliate of ABS-CBN News.
“In the past few days ay andoon siya sa Davao at ngayong araw pa lang na ito ang expected na magkita kami ni Presidente para sa meeting. Pero huwag pong mag-alala ang mga kabayan natin. Malusog po ang Pangulo natin.”
(He has been in Davao in the past few days. We are scheduled to see each other today for a meeting in Malacañang. The public should not worry. Our president is healthy.)
“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na hindi nagpapakita ang Pangulo, hindi nagtatrabaho. Kahit sinong CEO, kapag hindi nagpakita, minsan andoon lang sa opisina. Nagpipirma lang ng mga dokumento et cetera,” he added.
(It does not mean that the president has stopped working just because he has not been seen. Any CEO, even when unseen, is sometimes just in his office, signing documents.)
He is scheduled to make his first public appearance in a week tonight for a cabinet meeting on economic policy followed by a dinner with Muslim leaders.
His scheduled return comes as the government announced that the official death toll in the crisis in Marawi City as of June 26 climbed to 387. Of that number, about 27 deaths are civilians, 290 are Jihadist fighters, while 70 government troops have been killed in the clash.
With reports from ABS-CBN News
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