Leachon is credible, Roque is not

I do not know this popular personality named Dr Tony Leachon. I am not even sure if I spelled his family name correctly. We have not been introduced to each other formally simply because our circles do not converge. He belongs to our society’s high strata which level is notches beyond mine. My daughter in law, Enen, mentioned his name as one among those learned professionals in the country working on a strategy to fight the Corona virus in the early period of this pandemic. Dr Enen said that Dr Leachon is an authority on the subject and his contribution is incalculably valuable.

When Dr Leachon came to Cebu City, it was during that time when our city had the eerie reputation of being the epicenter of the disease. The statistical charts were frightening. It seemed that the infections were uncontrollable. National health leaders got alarmed. They needed to find out what was happening to us beyond our being “gahi og mga ulo”.

If I remember correctly, the good doctor came with the team of Secretary Roy Cimatu, a military man, ostensibly to find ways to curb the spread of the virus. They literally took over the reins of the city to the point of reducing the city leadership to embarrassing insignificance. When the Cimatu task force apparently learned what went wrong to us here in Cebu City, they set up the stage for public information on what and what not to do. Dr Leachon, however, was more candid. In his own social media platform, he shared more data than what Cimatu and company were willing to reveal. There were statistics that should have been locked in the vault which the doctor opened up with his social media following. Without his knowing it, Leachon out staged Cimatu and because the latter was supposed to be team leader a hierarchical order got breached. In my view, Leachon had to be chopped off as a one peso a year consultant of the IATF and consequently, I could hear less and less of him.

The other night, I had a dramatic chance to listen to Dr Leachon. He opened up with a usual greeting and proceeded to announce that he got foul-mouthed by President Rodrigo Duterte and his honor pilloried by Sec Harry Roque the presidential spokesman. My ear got glued to the cellphone. It somehow dawned on me that Leachon discussed the issue of COVID-19 vaccine. He apparently cited that all clinical trials of the Pfizer vaccine registered 95% effectivity and from his professional purview, it is the vaccine that has to be injected to the veins of Filipinos. Leachon mentioned that a vaccine developed in China is still shrouded in mystery in so far as its efficacy and safety are concerned. Otherwise stated, per Leachon discourse, the Chinese vaccine should not be used. Its effectivity is unknown and its safety is not demonstrable.

It looked like the government is getting the Sinovac for Philippine use. In Leachon’s analysis, this is akin to making Filipinos guinea pigs. This probably got the goat of the president whose preference for everything China is open. Instead of answering in clear, lucid and logical manner the points raised by Leachon, Malacañang issued vicious tirades against the doctor and launched what debaters call as “argumentum ad hominem”. Unfortunately for the president and his spokesman, Leachon is to me, more credible.