What you see is what you get

What’s with Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that they are suddenly on the lookout for President Rodrigo Duterte’s health?

Over the week, Alejano and Trillanes continuously questioned the state of health of the President — from the physical up to the mental stability of Duterte — and called on the President to make public his health records.

Alejano, for one, stressed that Duterte’s state of health is no laughing matter and even insinuated that the President’s upcoming state visit to Israel in September has something to do with his health.

“It is a serious matter which requires a clear and straightforward answer to allay the worries of the public,” said Alejano in a statement, adding that to joke about it and not take it seriously is a great disservice to the Filipino people.

The opposition lawmaker even dared the President to undergo a medical check-up.

“I would like to be wrong on this one. But if they really issue this challenge regarding the state of health of the President, I don’t need to join them in Israel to prove if he is indeed healthy,” Alejano said.

“A sick and incapacitated President will lead the country to perdition,” he added.

Trillanes, on the other hand, was more on the aggressive side of things, as he stated that Duterte should just go to the hospital if he is indeed ill, otherwise the President should just continue working.

“The country has so many problems which are your own doing, yet you are just sleeping there in Davao,” Trillanes said on social media.

“Find solutions instead of making yourself look pitiable. Truly, you are the laziest, craziest and the worst President this country ever had,” he added.

It would seem that both Alejano and Trillanes are just concerned with the President’s capability to continue with his work, but their tirades merely fall into a provocation — they are provoking the President to reveal the true state of his health.

But there is one thing these opposition lawmakers may have forgotten about Duterte: Even before he became President, he had exuded a virtue that endeared him to the public — enough to put him to the highest position in the land.

What you see is what you get, that’s how the President works.

And for all intents and purposes, if they want to see the President “in the pink of health,” then both Alejano and Trillanes are misguided, because to assume an association between “the pink of condition” and the healthily glowing pink cheeks of new-born babies or energetic sportsmen and the like is not possible due to the President’s complexion — which we believe is the real complexion of the Filipino.

Of course, allies of the President have also shrugged off the allegations of Alejano and Trillanes. As Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go put it, the President is in tip-top shape and even invited the opposition lawmakers to join them in Israel if they are in doubt on the true purpose of such activity.

Go even said: “If the President will undergo medical check-up in Israel, then they can go with us so that they can also have their heads checked.”

The President also did not waste any time refuting Trillanes’ claims and even stated that the opposition senator has a low intelligence quotient (IQ).

“Even if we add 10 to his score in the IQ test, if his scores are higher than mine, I will step down as senator. He’s the one who could not come up with solutions to the country’s problems because he is admittedly a dumb person,” Trillanes said on his Twitter post.

“I have yet to hear those guys state something without malice. They always say the worst.

People judge best when they condemn. And they have nothing to show for their time there except to blabber their mouth,” the President added.

By the looks of things — and the way he is lashing out at his critics’ unreliable and loosely-based allegations regarding his health — we believe the President really is in good health and just minding his own business of looking for solutions to a country being besieged by poverty, unemployment and his war against drug proliferation and terrorism.

We actually don’t mind if we don’t see the President every day, just as long as there are indications that he is doing his job of not letting this country and its people down.