(Eagle News)–Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday, June 18, denied he had pushed for the removal of Dr. Tony Leachon as consultant to the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
According to Roque, it was President Rodrigo Duterte himself who noticed Leachon’s comments critical of the country’s COVID-19 efforts, and “noted that you (Leachon) should not be doing what you’re doing.”
He said the President, however, “did not say that he should resign kasi lahat namin kami hindi sigurado kung anong papel niya.”
“Pambansang laway lang po ako,” Roque said.
“Wala talaga akong kapangyarihang mag-compel sa kung sino sa kanila na mag-resign,” he added.
Leachon had said Roque and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III had something to do with his resignation from the task force, noting that his criticisms of the country’s COVID-19 response did not sit well with the two government officials.
“Without a clear, cohesive and transparent communication campaign from DOH, the noise from an overly stressed-out and highly emotional general public, interposed with a varied mixture of political opinions and even potentially misleading facts, will sadly just drown out the truth,” Leachon had said.
But NTF chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said Leachon’s services were “terminated” because of his “preemptive releases of some information prior to official announcement…that jeopardized the communication efforts of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the NTF.”
Galvez added Leachon’s actions “caused unwarranted misunderstanding between two entities that should be working together,” noting that the doctor had been “cautioned but remained deaf to collegial advice.”
