SWS: 65% of Filipinos say Duterte's state of health a public matter
MANILA, Philippines — A majority of Filipinos believe that President Rodrigo Duterte's state of health is a public matter, results of a nationwide survey suggest.
Social Weather Stations said 65% of its 1,249 adult respondents held this view against the 32% who disagreed.
The survey ran from September 17 to 20 last year and was done using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing. It had a ±3% margin of error.
Broken down, it showed most from Visayas agreeing at 69%, Metro Manila at 65% and Balance Luzon and Mindanao both at 64%.
The results are four points higher than the 61% recorded in both December 2019 and September 2018.
Duterte, 76, had personally disclosed several medical conditions in his nearly five years in office. But both speculation and concern heightened in 2020 up to today as the country weathers the coronavirus pandemic.
In recent days, Filipinos took to social media to ask of his whereabouts after skipping two scheduled addresses last week.
His longtime aide who is now a senator has since released photos of Duterte jogging or riding his motor within the grounds of Malacañang.
But doing that in a bid to prove his condition did not sit well with many. They hit the President for doing the said activities while the country struggles with a record-high surge in COVID-19 cases that has left hospitals overwhelmed. Critics said too that "proof of life" is different from Duterte's "proof of work."
RELATED: Palace: No photos needed to prove Duterte is working
In September last year, a petition was filed before the Supreme Court to compel government to release information on Duterte's health. Lawyer Dino de Leon said this was to check if the President is still fit to lead the country amid a health crisis.
This was eventually dismissed by the high court, with a 13-2 vote. Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, non-appointees of Duterte, had dissented. — Christian Deiparine
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