Palace press officer Atty. Claire Castro maintained that Malacañang will heed the directive of the Supreme Court for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to comment on the petition seeking the disclosure of his medical examination report, including the hair follicle test.

“Kung utos po ng Supreme Court iyan ay gagampanan po, at gagawa po ng comment,” she told reporters in a media briefing on Thursday.

Earlier, the High Court’s en banc resolution mandated the President and acting Executive Secretary Ralph Recto to file their comment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice, without necessarily giving due course to the petition for mandamus filed on 15 April by petitioners former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez along with Virgilio Garcia, Juan Raña and Raymundo Junia.

Alvarez, among others, urged the SC to compel the President to undergo physical and mental examinations, including a hair follicle test, and to disclose the results to the public, citing longstanding but unsubstantiated allegations of drug use and concerns over his fitness for office.

Castro earlier stressed that there is no legal basis to compel the President to disclose medical records absent proof of serious illness, citing previous Supreme Court jurisprudence during the term of then-President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.