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Malacañang sees no need to release Marcos’ health records amid a deluge of claims and rumors over his state of health — or that he’d already passed
From jumping jacks to brisk jogging to overhead presses with a sack of rice, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has become hellbent — and uncharacteristically flashy — to prove to the public that he’s fit and healthy, even as a whole network of detractors and non-supporters continue to insist on the contrary.
“Sino’ng may sakit? (Who’s sick now?)” a laughing Marcos said Thursday, April 16, as he lifted a small sack of rice, approximately 10 kilograms, over his head.
Marcos was in the city of Manila to lead a ride distribution program in the capital. It is an effort separate from, but aligned with, the government’s aid efforts, as hostilities and uncertainty in the Middle East continue to drive oil prices – and potentially the prices of basic goods – higher.
It was only a few days earlier that Marcos performed jumping jacks on the way to the New Executive Building within the Malacañang compound, and then again before journalists, after weeks of social media chatter suggesting that he had fallen ill, been diagnosed with cancer, or secretly died.
For good measure, he also jogged.
That same day, Marcos said he wanted to assure the public that all was well in the months after he stayed in the hospital overnight and was diagnosed with diverticulitis.
There has been no credible reason to believe that Marcos had fallen ill again. However, before sprinting across the Malacañang compound and lifting a bag of rice in Manila, the President had been relatively sparse in his appearances, making himself available for live media engagements, although his calendar is full of livestreamed presidential events.
But between public exercise drills and impromptu pressers, Malacañang apparently draws the line at releasing a medical bulletin, as the President’s detractors have suggested.
Speaking to reporters on April 15, Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro cited the recent past — as in jailed former president Rodrigo Duterte — in explaining why there was no need to release Marcos’ health records.
“At tandaan po natin, kahit naman po noong nakaraang Pangulo, ilang linggo siyang nawawala pero ano ang sinabi ng kaniyang mga alipores at alagad? Ito po, nandiyan po si dating presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella, ang sabi, ‘As far as I can see, there’s really no need to do that,’ release Duterte’s health records. Kahit na po itong si Harry Roque, ang sinabi po niya, ‘I don’t think the people should worry about lack of transparency because the President himself will say what his condition is,’” she said, responding to former spokesperson Roque’s call.
(Let’s remember that even in the cast of the previous president, he was nowhere to be seen for weeks and what did his aides and loyalists say? I’ll quote former presidential spokepserson Ernesto Abella who said, ‘As far as I can see, there’s really no need to do that,’ release Duterte’s health records. Even Harry Roque said, ‘I don’t think the people should worry about lack of transparency because the President himself will say what his condition is.’)
Referring to her boss, Castro added: “So, nakita na po natin kung ano ang kondisyon ng Pangulo. Kayo po mismo ang saksi sa ganitong mga paninira nanggaling lamang sa kampo ng nais na pabagsakin ang Pangulo, sila po ay mapanira lamang at walang magawa sa buhay.”
(You’ve seen for yourself the condition of the President. You’ve been witness to the lies from camps who want to bring the President down. They are simply destructive and have nothing better to do in life.)
Under the Constitution, if a President has a “serious illness,” the public must be “informed of the state of his health.” Cabinet officials who handle national security and foreign relations, as well as the military chief, should continue to have access to the President, too.
Most presidents in recent history have had to combat health scares — both the real or the rumored. Marcos’ father and namesake, the late dictator, had kept the truth about his health condition a closely-guarded secret, even to his aides.
In a 2021 report, prompted by concerns over Duterte’s health then, Vera Files, citing accounts from Marcos’ former aides, recalled that by 1979, the dictator had already been dealing with alarmingly high blood pressure and “was showing signs of renal dysfunction as well as problems with his heart, lungs, stomach, and prostate.”
The current President’s father had made it a point to show publicly how fit he was — even as he was apparently already dealing with a gamut of ailments behind closed doors.
The truth was only made public in 1986, when the Marcoses, including Marcos Jr., fled Malacañang for Hawaii. Inside Malacañang were medical equipment, including dialysis machines. – Rappler.com
