Duque not Duterte’s ‘whipping boy’ amid criticisms over COVID-19 response — Palace

Malacañang denied on Wednesday that President Rodrigo Duterte is using Health Secretary Francisco Duque III as a scapegoat amid criticisms over the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to CNN-Philippines, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte has always been supportive of Duque, who heads the government’s policymaking body on COVID-19 response.

“I can tell you, the President has not been treating Secretary Duque as a whipping boy. The question I’m asked more often is why not . But it has never been the case that I think the President has ever used him as a whipping boy,” Roque said. 

“He’s always been supportive of Secretary Duque. He says mistakes have been made, for as long as these mistakes were done in good faith, then it’s no reason for him to lose confidence ‘no. So let’s leave it at that.”

Opposition Senator Leila de Lima was earlier reported to have surmised that Duque has not been removed from his post because Duterte “needs a whipping boy for the tragedy that they themselves have brought to our nation.”

Duque has endured criticisms regarding his handling of the public health emergency that pushed several senators to call for his resignation.

The Health chief and his subordinates are also facing an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman over issues linked to the procurement of personal protective equipment for health workers and test kits as well as the delayed release of financial assistance to deceased and infected medical frontliners.  — RSJ, GMA News