Palace: Duterte is ‘alive and well’ amid continued absence

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is “alive and well."

This was Malacañang’s statement amid speculations on the president’s health condition following his seventh day of absence from the public eye.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Duterte is busy doing his duties as president and that he is attending to paperwork away from the public’s eye.

READ: Duterte busy with paperwork, aide says

“He is alive and well. He is very well. He is just busy doing what he really needs to do,” Abella said during a televised press briefing on Tuesday.

“He signs papers, he reads, he consults. He is actually very busy but the thing that is very important to know is that he is on top of every situation,” he added.

Abella pointed out that Duterte is aware of the happenings and regularly receives updates.

“This is just his, like we said, working style and it was not meant to cast aspersions upon anybody but this is the way he works,” he explained.

Prior to this, the president was also out of the public eye for five days from June 12 to 16.

READ: Duterte skips Independence Day rites

Duterte visited displaced Marawi residents last week in an evacuation center in Iligan City.

Later on the same day, the president visited wounded soldiers at a hospital in Cagayan De Oro City. The presidential plane was used to transport the wounded soldiers to Metro Manila to receive further medical assistance.