MANILA – The Supreme Court junked Friday a plea to compel President Rodrigo Duterte to disclose his health records, Supreme Court sources said.
Voting 13-2, the high court dismissed the petition filed by lawyer Dino de Leon without requiring the respondents to comment.
Only Supreme Court Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa dissented.
The petition, filed on April 13, had sought to direct President Rodrigo Duterte or his office through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to disclose within 7 days his latest medical and psychological/psychiatric exam results, health bulletins and other health records since he assumed office.
It cited the President’s “incoherent, unresponsive…unintelligible rumblings” and his “drunken monologue” during his late-night press conferences as signs he may not be fit enough to manage the coronavirus pandemic.
The petition relied on, as legal basis, section 12, Art. VII of the 1987 Constitution requiring the President to inform the public of the state of his health in case of serious illness and used Duterte’s own admission that he has Myasthenia Gravis, Buerger's Disease, GERD, Barrett's Esophagus aside from "spinal issues" and "daily migraines" plus "antisocial personality disorder" and "narcissistic personality disorder."
It even claimed the President’s admitted use of Fentanyl could affect his thinking.
But Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the petition “warrants an outright dismissal” due to lack of factual or legal bases.
Eleven of the 15 SC magistrates were appointed to the Supreme Court by the President, who also appointed Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta to the post. It was former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who appointed Peralta SC associate justice in 2009.
Senior Associate Justices Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Leonen and Caguioa are the remaining high court appointees of former President Benigno Aquino III.
Duterte, who turned 75 in March, is the oldest to ever be elected Philippine President in history.
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