President Rodrigo Duterte now addressing the nation, notes questions about his absence from the public eye. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte on his absence: Talagang sinadya ko yun, ganun ako eh. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte also says he is a resident of Davao City, and never pretended to be from Sampaloc or Sta. Ana. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte says if he wants to go home, he can, because that is his home. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte also says he had been busy in the previous days, working on papers. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte says he has no illness that would prevent him from exercising the powers of the presidency. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte also defends his hobbies, such as riding of a motorcycle. He says that to ride at 2 am in the morning is not taking the people's time. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte repeats his allegations vs Sen. De Lima, one of his most vocal critics. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte now talking about COVID vaccines, says he's willing to waive his slot for the vaccine. "Kung sino may gusto sa slot ko, ibigay ko," he says. | @LeilasINQ

DOH Sec. Duque hospitals test health care workers every 2 weeks. Those who have symptoms are immediately put into isolation, he says. | @LeilasINQ

Duque says he directed hospitals to reserve hotel rooms to serve as isolation centers for infected health care workers. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte says the scarcity in the vaccine supply is not just a problem of the Philippines. It is felt in the whole world, he says. | @LeilasINQ

Sec. Galvez says current inventory is 1,395 ICU beds in NCR, and we need 605 more | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte tells officials not to be afraid to spend money to buy what is needed for the pandemic response. But he tells them to follow rules. He will vouch for them if the transaction is legal and right, he says. | @LeilasINQ

DSWD Sec. Bautista says rollout of ECQ aid was slow at the beginning but the pace improved after four to five days | @LeilasINQ

PNP has recorded 52,745 violations of minimum public health standards in NCR plus. The top violation was not wearing of face shields, says PNP chief Sinas. | @LeilasINQ

Sinas says 38,715 accosted for violating curfew in NCR plus. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte asks DILG to look into complaints about the distribution of aid. | @LeilasINQ

FDA chief Eric Domingo says Janssen applied for an EUA for its single dose vaccine on March 31. | @LeilasINQ

Domingo says Moderna’s local partner may submit an application for EUA this week. Novavax expected to apply for an EUA in May or June. | @LeilasINQ

Domingo says 3 companies have signified their intent to register Ivermectin for human use. | @LeilasINQ

Domingo says there are licensed pharmacies that can compound Ivermectin for patients with prescriptions. | @LeilasINQ

Pres. Duterte says it’s not that officials want to impose MECQ or ECQ. But they have to do it because their responsibility is to see to it that the nation is safe, he says. @LeilasINQ