MANILA - Sixty-five percent of Filipinos agree that the state of health of President Rodrigo Duterte is a public matter, a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed Monday.

The survey, conducted from Sept. 17 to 20 last year, also found that 32 percent of respondents agree with the statement: "Pres. Duterte’s state of health is a private matter that is why the public does not need to be informed of everything about this."

According to SWS, the belief that Duterte's state of health is a public matter has been dominant in past surveys. The September 2020 figure is 4 points above the 61 percent in December 2019 and September 2018.

The percentage of those who believe that Duterte's health is a public matter is highest in the Visayas at 69 percent, followed by Metro Manila (65 percent), and Balance Luzon and Mindanao (both at 64 percent).

While those who believe that the President's health status should be kept private belongs to the minority, the percentage who agree with the statement increases with the respondent's educational attainment.

Those who believe that it should be kept private was highest among college graduates at 37 percent and lowest among non-elementary graduates at 22 percent.

The survey was done on 1,249 adult Filipinos, using mobile phone and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). It has a sampling error of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas and Mindanao, and ±5 percent for Balance Luzon.

The exact phrasing of the question was: "Alin sa dalawang pangungusap na ito ang pinakamalapit sa inyong opinyon tungkol sa lagay ng kalusugan ni Pang. Duterte?", with the choices whether it is a private or a public matter given in random order.

SWS said the survey results were supposed to be released last November but they were overtaken by the arrival of the Nov. 21 to 25 SWS national data.

Duterte, who had been absent from public eye for nearly two weeks, “is not sick”, Malacañang said on Monday, as it also rejected calls for the release of bulletins on his health.

Duterte, 76, was expected to deliver his “Talk to the People” later Monday, his first since March 29. He cancelled public engagements last week after some members of his security team contracted COVID-19, said his allies, who denied that the President was ill.

“Ang (a) medical bulletin is only given when the President is sick; and he is not sick,” Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing.

• No-show Duterte ‘not sick’, says Palace

Duterte, the oldest to become PhilippinepPresident, had said he suffers Barrett’s esophagus, an inflammation of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.

Duterte, in various instances, said he also struggled with back pains, migraines and Buerger's disease, which is linked to blockages in the blood vessels associated with smoking during his youth.

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv