(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte has said he was suffering from an illness that causes muscle weakness.
The President made the revelation in a speech before the Filipino community in Moscow, Russia where he is on official visit.
“Mag-duet lang kami ng ‘Ikaw’. Pagkatapos magtingin ako sa kanya kagaya kanina pero gusto ko siyang tingnan sa mata. Pero ang mata ko –’yung isang mata ko, dito sa mata niya. ‘Yung isang mata ko, umiikot kung saan-saan pumupunta,'” Duterte said, referring to the Russian singer he said he wanted to have a duet with.
He said he got the disease, myasthenia gravis, through genetics from his grandfather.
The United States National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke said myasthenia gravis is an “autoimmune neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the skeletal muscles..”
It said certain “muscles such as those that control eye and eyelid movement, facial expression, chewing, talking, and swallowing are often (but not always) involved in the disorder.”
There is no known cure for the disease, but there are available treatments for a control of the symptoms that give the patient a high quality of life.
The Palace has given the public the assurance that the President was healthy at his age, and that he himself would disclose if he was suffering from any grave disease.