Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said cancer tests came back negative, days after he revealed he underwent medical checkup.
“If you mean was I found positive of cancer? No, it’s not the colon. It’s my Barret’s [esophagus]. It’s badly eroded because I was told to stop drinking years ago," Duterte told reporters in a chance interview.
"As of late, bumalik kasi ako (I went back to the habit). I don’t know for one reason or another, I just like to drink, brandy po. Ngayon sa totoo (Now actually), before I sleep, even if I’m alone, nag-three shots ako bago matulog (I have three shots before I sleep),” he added.
Duterte said he underwent tests "just to satisfy the family's urgings. But, if it were up to me, I do not need...I don't fear...I don't care."
The 73-year-old also denied taking another medical test in Hong Kong during the weekend when he was seen shopping with his partner and youngest daughter.
Duterte's acting interior secretary told reporters the president made the disclosure during a Monday night meeting.
"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.
The meeting was earlier postponed because the president made an unscheduled visit to hospital when doctors asked him to repeat digestive tract procedures three weeks after similar tests.
Duterte's condition "is not serious" and will remain a confidential matter, his spokesman, Harry Roque, told a separate news briefing.
The constitution provides for the public to be told of the state of health of an incumbent president, if serious.
"The constitution says that you must let the people know, but the procedure is not to go direct to the people. The cabinet should be the one to decide if you are fully incapacitated to discharge the functions of your office," Duterte said.
Duterte's health was a constant source of speculation after he disappeared from public view for a week last year but his aides dismissed rumours about his condition.
