(Eagle News) — The Palace on Tuesday, Feb. 2, said President Rodrigo Duterte “surely” wants Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong to stay on as the country’s contact tracing czar.
“I have heard with my own two ears nothing but words of praises for Mayor Magalong from the President,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.
He made the comment after Magalong tendered his resignation from the post after he admitted lapses in a party to boost tourism in Baguio he attended.
In his letter to COVID-19 response chief Carlito Galvez Jr., Magalong said he was resigning “to hold myself accountable and do what is necessary to rectify this misstep,” a report said.
The National Task Force for COVID-19, however, rejected his resignation.
Magalong said his resignation, however, was “irrevocable” unless President Duterte himself wanted him to stay.