Duterte displeased with Leachon’s posts against DOH — Palace

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte himself was displeased by the social media posts of Dr. Anthony Leachon, former special adviser to the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19.

While he did not ask him to resign, the President noted that Leachon should not have questioned the Department of Health’s (DOH) efforts against the pandemic, recalled presidential spokesperson Harry Roque during their previous meeting.

“Noong siya po ay nagsalita casting doubt sa figures ng DOH, e talagang lahat po ng miyembro ng strategic task force ay talagang nagtatanong, bakit tayo tinitira ng sarili nating kakampi?” Roque said in his online briefing.

(When he casted doubts on DOH figures, members of the strategic task force asked why we were being hit by our ally.)

“At noong huling pagpupulong po kay Presidente, nanggaling naman po kay Presidente na bakit nagsasalita ng ganito itong si Leachon. Let me correct you, Dr. Leachon. Hindi po ako, hindi po si Secretary Duque. Mismong si Presidente po noted that you should not be doing what you were doing,” Roque said.

(During the last meeting with the President, it was him who asked why Leachon was saying those things. Let me correct you, Dr. Leachon. It was not me nor Secretary Duque. The President himself noted you should not be doing what you were doing.)

“The President did not say he should resign kasi lahat naman kami, hindi kami talaga sigurado kung ano ang papel nya,” he went on.

(The President did not say he should resign because we were not sure what his position was.)

Roque also denied that it was neither him nor DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III who asked Leachon to step down from his post.

Leachon, in his previous social media posts, said the DOH “has lost focus in everything – risk communication, priorities, data management, and execution of all plans.”

Then on Wednesday, Leachon announced he was no longer an adviser of NTF, which is headed by Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.

In a Twitter post, he said he left due to differences with policies of the DOH like “lack of sense of urgency, problems in COVID data management, and transparency in communication process.”

Meanwhile, Galvez said Leachon was removed for allegedly preempting release of information prior to official announcement, jeopardizing the government’s communication efforts in its COVID-19 response.

EDV