HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd downplayed a doctor’s claim that the continued rise of diabetic cases in the country may be considered an epidemic, saying he could have meant it as a “figure of speech” like of “epidemic proportion.”

Duque admitted, however, in an interview over radio dzMM, that there was a rise in the number of cases of diabetes, which was the 6th leading cause of death among Filipinos based on the 2013 Philippine Health Statistics data.