Locsin pokes fun at AFP chief’s letter to Chinese embassy

MANILA, Philippines — Seemingly poking fun at the military chief, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. alluded to Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Felimon Santos Jr.’s “pleading letter” to the Chinese Embassy for a drug that might have cured him of his coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

In an undated letter leaked to the media on April 27, Santos requested Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian’s help to obtain China-made tablets which he believed helped him overcome the virus that causes COVID-19.

Santos tested positive for the virus on March 27 but never experienced any symptoms, said the military. He tested negative on April 5.

Locsin alluded to Santos’s letter on Monday as he retweeted a news report about a German company working with a US drug company that has begun human trials on a potential vaccine against COVID-19.

“Uh-oh, time to write the same pleading letter but to the German Embassy. My God, whatever did he start? He won’t be doing anything but writing Western embassies,” tweeted Locsin.

“And why? Because alternative remedy is no alternative to Western science and where is that science? In the West. Patay,” he added.

Locsin went on to mock those who resort to unproven “alternative remedy” against COVID-19, retweeting a warning from the World Health Organization against self-medication with supposed cures.