Palace says Leachon removed after Duterte noticed his criticisms on govt COVID-19 response

June 18, 2020

The "declaration" of President Rodrigo Duterte about his observation on the statements of Anthony Leachon against the government's response to address the coronavirus disease crisis prompted National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. to remove the physician as his adviser, Malacañang said on Thursday.

In a virtual press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque denied that he and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III were behind Leachon's dismissal as Galvez's adviser.

"He (Leachon) is giving me too much credit, I'm just the national saliva. I don't have the power to compel anyone to resign," he said.

Leachon accused Roque and Duque as being behind his ouster.

Roque recalled that when Leachon cast doubts over the Department of Health's figures on COVID-19 cases, "all the members of the strategic task force asked, 'Why are we being hit by our own ally?'"

Roque, head of the strategic communications group of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, brought up Leachon's comment to Duque, believing that he was an adviser of the Health chief.

He learned later that Leachon was Galvez's adviser.

"And during the last meeting with the President, it came from the President why Leachon was talking like this. So, let me correct you, Dr. Leachon: It's not me, it's not Secretary Duque, it's the President himself who noted that you should not be doing what you are doing," Roque said.

"So, perhaps, it's not me, it's not Secretary Duque who influenced Secretary Galvez to let go of him. It was a declaration of the President himself," he added.

Pressed if the President asked Leachon to resign, Roque said, "The President did not say he should resign, because all of us were not sure of his role."

Galvez in an earlier statement said that Leachon's "pre-emptive" releases of some information prior to official announcement and adaptation jeopardized the communication efforts of the IATF and NTF and caused unwarranted misunderstanding between two entities that should be working together.

He said Leachon was already cautioned but he "remained deaf" to a collegial advise.

Roque also said that the DOH is not hiding anything about the figures it has been releasing regarding COVID-19 cases, including recoveries and deaths. Celerina Monte/DMS