(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Executive Secretary Ralph Recto will heed the order of the Supreme Court to submit his comment on a petition that seeks the disclosure of his medical examination report, Malacañang said on Thursday.
“If that is the order of the Supreme Court, we will follow. A comment will be made,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said in Filipino in a press briefing.
“Soon as there is a comment, we will immediately release it,” Castro said.
The high tribunal’s order stemmed from the petition of Pantaleon Alvarez, Virgilio Garcia, Juan Raña and Raymundo Junia against Marcos and Recto.
They argued that the chief executive’s health is a matter of public concern, especially with the country dealing with the effects of the crisis triggered by the hostilities in the Middle East.
In their petition for a writ of mandamus, they sought to have Marcos submit himself to physical and mental examinations, including a hair follicle drug test. It also requires the chief executive to make public results of the tests, including medical and clinical confirmation of his physical and medical fitness to prove whether or not he is fit to discharge the powers and duties as president.
They invoked Section 12, Article VII of the Constitution, which mandates public disclosure of the chief executive’s health in case of serious illness.
Marcos last January was diagnosed with diverticulitis and had to scale back attending events in and out of Malacañang. The president himself recently said he has since fully recovered and does not have any restrictions in his activities or his diet.
The president even went as far as tagging as liars those who have been spreading unverified reports about his health.
“So, from now on, those people who told you that I’m sick, that I’m disabled, they are all liars. Everything they say is a lie. So, don’t believe whoever those people are. Now you know who the liars are and who is telling the truth,” he said.
