MANILA, Philippines — Those spearheading the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic need not be doctors, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday as he defended his preference for appointing former military officers.
“You’re asking me: ‘Why are you so attached to those who were in the military? They know nothing.’ This is a mechanical act. It is not a study of medicine. This like a transaction in business,” Duterte said, speaking partly in Filipino, in his pre-recorded televised briefing.
He said that was why he called on Carlito Galvez Jr., a retired Army general who was chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to head the …
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