Revealing the reason why the President of the Philippines withdrew from work for 1 week

Philippine presidential palace officials stressed that Mr. Rodrigo Duterte temporarily withdrew from work due to fatigue, not illness as many speculated.

Photo of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte taken yesterday (June 15) provided by special assistant Christopher Go.

Photo of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte taken yesterday (June 15) provided by special assistant Christopher Go.

“Tired. He’s just tired. Like I said, he’s been on the road for about 23 days… to enforce the martial law he imposed,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said yesterday (June 15), stressing that Duterte is taking time to rest and attend to personal matters.

When asked by the press about Mr Duterte’s health, Mr Abella added: “The work is really tough so we have to let him rest. You never rest? I affirm that there is nothing to worry about the President falling seriously ill.”

In addition, to reassure the people, Christopher Go, Mr. Duterte's longtime assistant, publicly released a photo of the 72-year-old President handling documents.

Mr. Go said the photo was taken before 6 p.m. on June 15 at the Bahay Pagbabago residence in Malacanang Park, the official residence of President Duterte.

Earlier, Malacanang Park announced that President Duterte would temporarily withdraw from work for a week, raising speculation about his health condition.

There were even rumors that Mr. Duterte was taken to a hospital in Metro Manila, but officials denied this information.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is in good health and in good spirits, presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo said Wednesday evening.

Panelo said that although Duterte was “strong,” he needed sleep after a hectic schedule. “He visited the soldiers. On Independence Day, he was really sleep deprived. I know he came home around 6 a.m. He was very tired,” Panelo added.

Duterte was absent from the Independence Day celebrations in Manila on Monday (June 12) to rest, officials said. He has not been seen in public since.

According to Panelo, the conversation took place around 7 p.m. The adviser said Duterte confided: “I am busy. There are many problems in Mindanao.”

Panelo also denied rumors that the Philippine president was ill. However, he could not confirm when Duterte would next appear in public.

Back home

The Phil Star newspaper quoted a source close to the Philippine President as saying that Mr. Duterte returned home to Davao City last night (June 15), after resting at Bahay Pagbabago since the beginning of the week.

“He really needs a break. There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s fine. It’s just that his busy schedule over the past few weeks has left him shaken. And like anyone else, he has the right to take some time off and rest,” the source stressed.

According to Phil Star, Duterte has almost skipped sleep to keep up with his busy schedule in recent months, including overseas trips to Cambodia, Hong Kong (China) and Beijing (China) last month.

President Duterte also visited Russia, but decided to return home after less than 24 hours in Moscow to deal with the Maute rebels' attack on Marawi City, Mindanao, on May 23.

Since then, Mr Duterte has been working non-stop and not getting enough sleep to oversee the implementation of martial law in Mindanao, as well as dealing with other military operations in Marawi.

Sources confirmed that, despite spending private time, Mr. Duterte still closely follows the situation in the country this day.

This is not the first time Mr. Duterte’s health has become a hot topic in the Philippines. During his election campaign last year, rumors that Mr. Duterte had cancer arose, but he denied them many times./.

According to TPO