Watching President Rodrigo Duterte’s performance on Sunday night was like watching a defeated general sign the surrender papers. Here was a man who had become accustomed to assuming he would never be openly defied and have his wisdom questioned suddenly awakened to the fact that he had completely lost control of a situation, compelled to endorse a certain course of action because if he did not, well, it was going happen anyway, in spite of him. It was a scene that was equally fascinating and disturbing to watch.
The collapse began on Saturday with the circulation of an “open letter” by a coalition of professional associations representing most medical workers in the country, imploring the government to reimpose an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) for two weeks. The renewed lockdown was necessary, the medical workers said, to provide some relief for health care personnel and facilities that are being overwhelmed by the rapid increase in coronavirus cases, and to allow medical experts and government planners time to assess and “recalibrate” the government’s response to the pandemic.