A recent news flourished as to how President Rodrigo Duterte was rushed to the hospital after his third State of the Nation Address. However, the Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press brief that, “There is no truth to the rumours that the president was rushed to the hospital. It is ‘tsismis’, it is fake news. The President is fine.” In addition, Roque said that Duterte had visited the hospital for a regular check up. 

Our assessment is that the purported news of President Duterte being hospitalised was meant to create a certain panic and is definitely a clear case of doctored news.