Larry Gadon is at it again.
This time, the controversial lawyer is picking fights with the Department of Health (DOH), whom he’s accused of frightening people by asking them to wear face masks and face shields — not a real necessity, Gadon claims, because he believes COVID-19 is curable.
Read: Pinoys call out controversial lawyer Larry Gadon’s interesting use of face mask
To be clear: both the World Health Organization and the DOH have maintained that there is still “no licensed medication to cure COVID-19.” Why else would there be a rush to start trials on unapproved coronavirus vaccines?
“For me, it’s too much, either you wear a face shield or a face mask. I don’t believe in the DOH. I’ve been around more than 20 hospitals and COVID centers giving away donations and I didn’t get COVID,” a bare-faced Gadon told reporters in English and Filipino in an impromptu interview outside the Supreme Court yesterday.
Gadon was there to petition the nullification of Republic Act 6639, a law which renamed the Manila International Airport to Ninoy Aquino International Airport following the assassination of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ rival Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. on its tarmac. Gadon is a vocal Marcos supporter.
Wearing a face mask outdoors has been made mandatory in the country since April, and face shields have likewise been required in public commutes and several business establishments since early this month.
“To tell you the truth, COVID is curable. DOH is putting so much fear in us. The economy came to a halt because of all that fear-mongering. COVID is curable. If at the onset, you cure it with medicines like Lianhua [Qingwen], your COVID won’t progress. DOH is doing so much to scare us. I don’t believe them,” Gadon, who is not a doctor nor scientist, said.
The lawyer’s misplaced faith in Lianhua Qingwen has also been debunked by the Health Department, who earlier this month clarified that the traditional Chinese drug could possibly cure fever and a string of other illnesses, but not COVID-19.
Read: Wait a Minute: PH gov’t clarifies Lianhua Qingwen to be used against fever, not COVID-19
He went on to complain that other countries seemed to be doing fine and didn’t need to require its residents to wear face masks and face shields to stem the virus, and that the DOH is overreacting.
Countries like Vietnam, which logged 1,034 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 30 deaths as of today, compared to the Philippines’ 205,581 cases and 3,234 deaths, have credited their successful curbing of the disease to resorting to “extreme but sensible” measures, including imposing hefty fines for people not wearing face masks in public, and implementing aggressive contact tracing — the latter, a measure where the Philippines is seriously lagging.
Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police warned today that they will arrest Gadon if the virus-courting lawyer continues to refuse to wear a face mask and face shield in public places.
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