TODAY marks the fourth year in office of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD). Not exactly a leader in the usual mode of presidents we have elected before, Duterte is truly an outlier. From Mindanao, a mayor for two decades, plus a Bisaya. We would have hit our stride this year, but the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) changed all these plans and we are temporarily stomped in our war with the pandemic.
We are in fact on the 106th day of community quarantine, since the start of the Luzon-wide lockdown last March 17. And it is not as if we are worse off now than in March. We have in fact built our capacities, deaths in the frontline are gone (save probably in high-risk areas like Cebu), recoveries outstrip deaths and the gating protocol is working as we slowly walk to the new norm. It has been a disciplined approach in dealing with the pandemic. A plan evolves as any crisis would dictate. There is a policy body and an implementing arm.
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