In his TV program on Sunday, Duterte said he is scheduled to undergo a “nerve conduction velocity” (NCV) test to check his spine. He said he has been feeling numbness in the left portion of his body, from the neck down to his chest. Often, he said, he had difficulty closing his fist or gripping his fingers. Depending on the results of the test, he might have to undergo surgery, he said. | 
Related story: Transcript of Duterte’s “Gikan sa Masa” interview
DAVAO CITY — Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has disclosed that he is sick and has even hinted that he might relinquish his duties to his daughter, Sara, the newly elected vice mayor.
In his TV program on Sunday, Duterte said he is scheduled to undergo a “nerve conduction velocity” (NCV) test to check his spine. He said he has been feeling numbness in the left portion of his body, from his neck down to his chest. Often, he said, he had difficulty closing his fist or gripping his fingers.
Depending on the results of the test, he might have to undergo surgery, Duterte said.
According to Medline Plus, an online database by the US National Institute of Health, an NCV test is “used to diagnose nerve damage or destruction.” Traumatic injury to a nerve, it said, is one of the conditions associated with such a test.
Accoding to Duterte, he has been suffering the pain in the past eight months. He said the pain must have been caused by a dirt-bike accident about 25 years ago, when he and his brother were driving a rough road up the Matina Shrine Hills. He said the injury might have developed because of his old age. The mayor is now 62 years old.
News about the mayor’s health rarely appears in the city’s papers. A bike enthusiast, Duterte has always projected an image of virility and good health.
In the same TV show, Duterte dropped strong hints that he might relinquish City Hall to his daughter. The two ran as mayor and vice mayor in the May 14 elections and won overwhelmingly; they are scheduled to be inducted to office on June 30. Duterte said Sara’s decision to run was borne out of his desire to make sure that his programs for the city would continue even after he is no longer mayor. Duterte is on his last term and it is not year clear what he would do afterward.
“If the doctor says that the procedure will take only one week, I can proceed as mayor,” Duterte said in Visayan. “But if he says the recovery period might take longer, Inday can do it,” he added, referring to Sara. “After all, she is a lawyer. It should be no problem. She just have to follow the law, that’s it.
Duterte, however, made it clear that he is not going to resign. “No. Just because of this? Definitely not, he replied, when asked by his co-host, Councilor Mabel Acosta, if he would consider resigning because of his health problem.
I just wanted to be back on my motorcycle again. I have to. You know, if you confine me to a house where I could not be free to move around, I might as well die, the mayor explained.
But if the situation warrants, Duterte said he would have no choice but to resign. What if it’s my head that will get stiff? How would I go to work then? I mean, if the situation worsens… But I hope my condition would not worsen but then I could not work. That’s what I fear the most, he said.
Duterte added that he won’t go abroad to have his illness cured.
The mayor, meanwhile, took the opportunity to lash back at his critics who have speculated that he was just making all this up so he could have his daughter as mayor.
My daughter is the vice-mayor. She won and whatever happens, you are out of it, he said, addressing his critics.
“Whether I resign or not, that’s for me to decide. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. That is my prerogative, not yours. If you want, you might as well run for mayor and make your relatives run for the office also. But right now, you shut up because it is not your time,” he said. (Cheryll D. Fiel/davaotoday.com)
