Digong puyat lang, walang sakit—Palasyo

Kahit huli nang dumating at tila inaantok pa si Pangulong Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte sa military graduation sa Baguio City nitong Linggo, nananatili siyang malusog at itutuloy ang biyahe sa Japan ngayong araw, sinabi ng Malacañang kahapon.

Tiniyak ni Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo sa publiko na walang malubhang sakit ang Pangulo ngunit inamin na si Duterte ay “sleepy” at “struggled to be awake” sa aktibidad ng Philippine Military Academy (PMA) dahil sa maraming trabaho sa bisperas ng okasyon.

“To the people who wish him to be seriously ill, they will be disappointed,” ani Panelo.

“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 (which is not life threatening), the President is in good health, robust enough to be travelling to Japan for an official visit upon the invitation of Prime Minister Abe,” dugtong niya.

Inaasahang bibiyahe ang Pangulo sa Tokyo ngayong Martes para sa apat na araw na pagbisita, partikular na para makilahok sa Nikkei Conference on the Future of Asia sa Mayo 31.

Habang nasa Japan, nakatakda ring magdaos ni Duterte ng bilateral talks kasama si Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sa Biyernes.

Tungkol naman sa late na pagdating at inaantok pa na pagdalo ng Pangulo sa graduation ng PMA Mabalasik Class of 2019, ipinaliwanag ni Panelo na dalawang oras lamang na nakatulog si Duterte.

Aniya, abala ang Pangulo “working on papers, reading reports from various departments, and signing papers” sa bisperas ng PMA graduation.

“He is a night person. He usually sleeps at 6 a.m. He had to wake up at 8:30 a.m. for the PMA graduation rites so he had only two hours of sleep. The event at 9 a.m. was part of his sleeping time,” ani Panelo.

“He was so sleepy when he arrived at the venue. He struggled to be awake,” dugtong ng opisyal ng Palasyo.

Ipinaliwanag din ni Panelo na hinayaan ng Pangulo si Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana na mamahagi ng diplomas sa graduating class “[to] reserve his energy” para sa iba pang ceremonial acts na kailangan niyang isagawa sa okasyon.

“The protocol in distributing diplomas is either he does it himself or he tasks the Secretary of National Defense to do it,” aniya.

Nagbalik na ang Pangulo sa kanyang “usual alert, impassioned and assertive self” nang magbigay siya ng talumpati sa PMA graduation, ayon kay Panelo.