Duterte makes public appearance

Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte reappeared in public on Tuesday after an absence of a week, his longest disappearance from the spotlight as president, amid concerns about his health that the government insists are baseless.

Duterte gave a speech at the presidential palace of about 25 minutes late on Tuesday, during which he railed at militants for their bloody occupation of a southern town, but made no mention of why he had been absent from the public eye.

Duterte said he was deeply saddened by the crisis and promised Marawi would be rebuilt.

He said he had cousins who were members of the Maute group, one of which had been killed, and his decision to declare martial law on Mindanao was justified, because he was aware of exactly what the extremists would do.

"I know the deployment of snipers and where they hid their firearms. I already had the complete picture and I knew that would be a long fight," he said in a speech.

Duterte said he understood why Muslim separatists had fought the government, but could not comprehend Daesh's radical doctrine.

"What's painful for me, a fractured ideology entered. All that they want is to kill and destroy, how can we live with that?" he said.

Known for a busy schedule and lengthy speeches often several times a day, the 72-year-old Duterte's low profile this month has fuelled rumours he is in declining health and that the government is trying to keep that under wraps.

What has created most intrigue is Duterte being largely missing during what is the biggest crisis of his year-old presidency, as the military battles for a sixth week to defeat Daesh-linked rebels currently occupying Marawi City on his home island of Mindanao.

Answering queries from reporters about Duterte's long absences, his spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said he was well and running the country as normal.

"He is very well, he's just busy doing what he needs to do," he said. "As you've seen he's been very much in the public eye but being out of the public eye, that is when he is able to do office work, he signs papers, he reads, he consults, he's actually very busy.

Source: .khaleej Times