Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — President Rodrigo Duterte has not been seen in Manila of late.
He has not been to the capital since he visited earthquake victims in Surigao on Sunday.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the president might be taking a break in between attending meetings in Davao.
But he added the president’s week-long stay in Davao is not a “health-related break.”
“You know, if he’s quiet… I mean again, you have to understand that his schedules are really brutal and anybody would need to rest,” Abella said in his regular press briefing Thursday.
The spokesperson said the president is in the “pink of health considering his age.”
“(The President has) all the usual afflictions. But, however, you know, he doesn’t have anything extraordinary,” Abella said.
The president was known for discussing his health in his speeches, only to retract it after.
In December 2016, Duterte said he was just fooling the media regarding the state of his health since the media always writes everything he says.
The Constitution provides that the public should be informed on the president’s health.
