MANILA – Malacañang on Monday said President Rodrigo Duterte was not ill and was just sleepy during the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) graduation on Sunday in Baguio City.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte had a weak and unstable demeanor on Sunday after having only two hours of sleep.
“He didn’t look weak. He looked very sleepy. He was sleepy because the day before he was working. I think he had only less than two hours of sleep,” Panelo said.
Panelo added Duterte was in his “usual alert and assertive” self while he was delivering his less than 10-minute graduation speech, which became controversial due to a “rape joke.”
But Duterte disregarded the PMA tradition of personally distributing the diplomas.
He handed out diplomas to only two of the 261 cadets who were graduating before relegating the job to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
“He was very sleepy, so he wanted to get back to bed to get some power nap since he lacks sleep. As we all know by now, the President is a night person,” Panelo said.
“He sleeps at 6 a.m. The time of the event was supposed to be part of his sleeping time, but he had to force himself to wake up and dress up and attend the event,” he added.
“He opted to let SND (Lorenzana) do the handing of the certificates. He reserved his energy for the other ceremonial acts he had to perform for the graduation rites,” the palace official said.
Panelo allayed fears on the President’s health, saying Duterte was “robust enough” to travel to Japan on Tuesday.
“To those who are concerned about his well-being, they should be assured that apart from what he already told the public of what ails him, the President is in good health, robust enough to be traveling to Japan for an official visit upon the invitation of Prime Minister Abe,” said Panelo. /PN
