Palace denies reports that Duterte left the country over the weekend

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang denied Sunday reports that President Rodrigo Duterte left the country over the weekend amid the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

“There is no truth that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte left the country this weekend,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement.

“The Chief Executive is in the Philippines and closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country,” he added.

However, it was not immediately clear where the supposed reports came from and why the President allegedly had to leave the country amid the COVID-19 crisis, which has already sickened over 161,000 people nationwide.

Roque also did not provide further details on the President’s present whereabouts.

Duterte last addressed the public on August 10 from his hometown Davao City where he has been staying since early August.

He is scheduled to meet with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases (IATF) in Davao City on Monday to decide on the fate of the coronavirus lockdown in Metro Manila and its nearby provinces.

The capital region, along with the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, has been reverted to the more restrictive modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from general community quarantine (GCQ) from August 4 to August 18 after a timeout appeal from the medical community.

/MUF