Palace: Duterte's COVID-19 actions based on science

Malacañang asserted that President Rodrigo Duterte's decisions regarding the country's COVID-19 response were guided by science and data, refuting claims of "medical populism."

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque stated that the President and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) have confronted COVID-19 challenges with scientific evidence and data influencing their actions.

Roque highlighted that the Duterte administration has implemented significant interventions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

These interventions include increasing the country's testing capacity, improving contact tracing, and strengthening the local health system for isolation and critical care.

The Lancet, a medical journal, had previously suggested that leaders like Duterte employed a "medical populism" style, which allegedly contributed to the failure to prevent the spread of the virus, with the Philippines ranking 66th out of 91 countries surveyed.