A group that went to the Supreme Court demanding President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. submit to a hair follicle drug test and make public his medical records has been met with sharp rejection from Malacañang, which dismissed the legal challenge as both groundless and unlikely to survive judicial scrutiny.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro questioned the motives behind the United People’s Initiative’s (UPI) petition, saying the group was stirring controversy without any factual foundation. “Sila ang gumagawa ng isyu nang walang basehan,” she said.
Castro cited existing Supreme Court jurisprudence as the administration’s primary defense, noting that settled case law shields a sitting president from being compelled to disclose medical information in the absence of credible evidence of serious illness. “Kung tsismis lang at guni-guni, hindi babaliktarin ng Korte Suprema ang ganitong ruling,” she added.
Filed on April 10, the UPI petition argues that the public has a constitutional right to information bearing on the President’s capacity to govern, and that withholding health details from citizens risks eroding accountability.
The Palace, however, rejected the transparency framing outright. Castro pointed to the President’s continued public appearances as evidence the administration has nothing to conceal. “Are we not transparent? Nakikita ninyo ang Pangulo—face-to-face, personal,” she said.
On the specific question of a drug test, Castro was unequivocal. “Unless there is proof of serious illness, there’s no need for the President to undergo that,” she said.
Marcos himself addressed the speculation directly on Monday, performing jumping jacks and running within the Palace compound in front of reporters.
