MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte does not have cancer, the acting interior minister said on Tuesday, after the firebrand leader underwent tests in a private hospital.
The public has been clamoring for information about Duterte’s health after the 73-year-old missed two official events last week.
“He disclosed to us that the result of the test was negative, the one where they took samples from his intestines,” Eduardo Ano told reporters in an event posted on Facebook live by local news agencies.
Ano said Duterte made the disclosure during a cabinet meeting on Monday night. The meeting was supposed to have happened last Wednesday but the president made an unscheduled visit to a hospital when doctors asked him to repeat digestive track procedures three weeks after similar tests.
Under the Philippine constitution, the public should be made aware of the state of health of a sitting president. If the leader dies in office, permanently disabled or removed through impeachment, the vice president succeeds to serve the remaining years in a six-year, single term.
Vice President Leni Robredo, a leader of the political opposition, was elected separately in 2016 and could fuel uncertainty in the succession process given the highly polarized political climate.
Duterte’s health was a constant source of speculation after he disappeared from public view for a week last year but his aides dismissed rumors of his medical conditions.
Philippine president Duterte does not have cancer — acting interior minister
Philippine president Duterte does not have cancer — acting interior minister
- There has been a clamor for information about Duterte’s health after the 73-year-old missed two official events last week
- Under the Philippine constitution, the public should be made aware of the state of health of a sitting president
Hegseth vows most intense day yet of US strikes as Iran aims to fight on
- Netanyahu meanwhile said: “We are breaking their bones”
- “No nation takes more precautions to ensure there’s never targeting of civilians,” Hegseth said
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday will be the most intense day yet of US strikes inside Iran as the Islamic Republic, its firepower diminished, vowed to fight on.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said: “We are breaking their bones” and said the war’s aim is a popular overthrow of Iran’s government.
US President Donald Trump, for his part, has sent contradictory signals about how long the war could last, causing wild swings Monday in financial and fuel markets. The US stock market and oil prices were holding relatively steady Tuesday.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf dismissed any suggestion Tehran has sought a ceasefire. Another top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, appeared to threaten Trump himself, writing on X that “Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats. Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”
Hegseth says US is taking the investigation on a school strike ‘very seriously’
Responding to a question shouted by a reporter at a news conference about accountability for the strike, Hegseth said that “we take things very, very seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”
“No nation takes more precautions to ensure there’s never targeting of civilians,” he said, adding that “open source information” shouldn’t be used to determine what happened.
Satellite images, expert analysis, a US official and public information suggest the explosion that killed at least 165 people, mostly children, was likely caused by US airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Trump erroneously claimed Monday that Iran has access to the American Tomahawk cruise missile, the weapon likely used to strike the school.
