IN my column of April 29, 2021, I underscored that the 2022 elections will be a referendum on President Rodrigo Duterte's chaotic and feeble response to the pandemic. It will also be a crucial test of the Filipino voters' capacity to render wise judgment on a president's dismal failure to save lives and livelihoods from Covid-19's controllable virulence.

Duterte's anointed candidates and his furtive allies will have extreme difficulty defending his indefensible lackadaisical response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They cannot not negate the universal prognosis of world economists and medical experts that the Philippines will be last in the Asia-Pacific region to recover from the pandemic, both in economic recession and health issues, due to Duterte's flawed and ineffective management.