Rodrigo Duterte : Sage Advice : Rivalling Donald Trump

Mr Duterte giving a state of the nation address    EPA

"Together, we shall fight this pandemic with the same fervour as our campaign against illegal drugs, criminality, insurgency and corruption in high places and entrenched parochial interests."

"What I said is true. Just go to the gasoline station, and then have some drops, that's disinfectant."

"I am not joking. That is true. You think I am just kidding."

"They [critics] said, 'Duterte's insane.' Stupid! If I'm insane, you should be the president, not me."

"What I've said was true. If alcohol isn't available, especially for the poor, just go to a gasoline station, and use [gas] to disinfect."

"I am not joking. I am not joking. You… you try to get inside my brain."

"At the end of the day, hang [the mask] somewhere and spray it with Lysol if you can afford it."

"For people who don't [have Lysol], drench it in gasoline or diesel... just find some gasoline [and] dip your hand [with the mask] in it."

President Rodrigo Duterte, Manila, Philippines

"You cannot use gasoline as disinfectant."

"Inhaling it may cause harm and could lead to more problems like respiratory disease."

Jose Santiago, president, Philippine Medical Association

"I can't believe that after four years of him as president, you still don't know [him]."                                                                                                                      "[It's only a] joke. Why would we use gasoline for washing?"                                                    Presidential spokesman Harry Roque

Thousands of people in the Philippines have been arrested by authorities for breaching curfew. Authorities have interrupted charity and relief operations and taken those suspected of violating quarantine rules to crowded facilities. Illogically those who flaunt the rules of mask-wearing and social distancing, are placed in crowded holding areas where social distancing is impossible to maintain. But the law is the law and it must be upheld

Police, the Philippine military and officials of neighbourhoods have all been authorized by President Duterte to shoot anyone defying lockdown restrictions. The Philippines, by order of the president, has enforced one of the globe's longest, most stringent lockdowns. Tactics in enforcement include mass arrests alongside threats of state violence. Methods well known to have been put in place in the president's war on drugs, methods deadly to drug dealers, users and innocents mistakenly taken for both.

Health professionals in the Philippines recommend soap and water to be used for cleansing reusable cloth masks. And that proper disinfection of surfaces require the use of 70 percent ethyl or isopropyl alcohol. The Philippine president has made the suggestion of using gasoline on masks on several occasions, eliciting shock from medical professionals as well as from some of his political opponents appalled at the dangerous advice he is propagating to a public that still awards him high approval ratings for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME", tweeted Senator Risa Hontiveros. "FACT CHECK: Gasoline and diesel should not be used in disinfecting." President Duterte's response to his opponents is to defend his recommendations, emphasizing that his government's response had succeeded in preventing up to 3.5 million infections. The official government figure for the infection rate is 90,000, a figure generally held to be substantially under-counting cases.

No one in the Philippines may take the liberty of not wearing a mask; their use has been mandatory since March. Official figures admit to over 2,000 deaths caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19. For a second straight day on Friday, the country reported Southeast Asia's largest daily rise in new coronavirus cases. Restrictions meant to control the spread have been extended. The president has promised that by December the country would return to normal.

The second occasion on which Duterte repeated his singular advice for the use of gasoline or diesel to clean masks, medical experts were quick to override his comments, emphaszing that mask-cleaning tips by the president were not recommended. It's the kind of advice that places him in league with U.S. President Donald Trump's musing over whether injecting or drinking bleach might be effective in killing the virus. And his continued insistent recommendation of the use of a malarial drug as an effective vaccine for COVID.

Passengers travel on a jeepney with seat dividers to ensure social distancing in Manila. Residents of Navotas, one of the poorest areas of the capital, will go back into lockdown following a spike in new coronavirus cases. (AFP