President Rodrigo Duterte, returning from a three-day official visit to South Korea, said on arrival Wednesday he vomited during his flight back home due to migraine.
“I puked because of pain. That’s why I [was] also not able to go around the plane,” the 73-year-old President told reporters.
Duterte said he asked Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque to greet the Filipino passengers inside the aicraft on his behalf.
Duterte’s health has been the subject of much speculation, but he has repeatedly downplayed such concerns.
Duterte said his Korean visit was successful, citing the US$4.8 billion in investment pledges and the strengthened relations between the two countries particularly in security, economy as well as trade and investment.
“My official visit to Seoul was meaningful and productive. We are now writing a new chapter of cooperation in the shared history between the Philippines and South Korea,” the President said in his arrival statement.
Duterte met with Korean Moon Jae-in and witnessed the signing of at least 28 business agreements that will propel the country’s economy and support the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.
“My meetings with President Moon Jae-in were very warm, open and enriching—as things should be between special friends and long-standing partners,” he said.
The two leaders committed to significantly strengthen their partnership especially in defense and security, trade and investments, infrastructure development, and protection of their nationals.
The President commended Moon’s commitment to strengthen the foundations of security and stability in the region, and expressed his full support for all efforts for the eventual denuclearization in the Southern Korean peninsula.
The visit also resulted in new government-to-government agreements for wider collaboration in science and technology, infrastructure development, renewable energy deployment, trade and economic relations, transportation, agriculture, forestry, and communications.
“President Moon and I both reaffirmed the need to work closer together to address traditional and emerging threats, again including terrorism, transnational crimes and piracy at sea,” Duterte said.
“To do this, we will count on South Korea as a steady partner in modernizing its key assets in defense, security and law enforcement,” Duterte said.
Both Duterte and Moon agreed to ramp up cooperation in the regional and international fora, especially in Asean, to advance security, stability and the rule of law.
The President’s visit also boosted the trade between the two countries.