Almost 3 years since the WHO declared a global pandemic due to COVID-19 and with the end of the current administration that handled the pandemic from the start until today, there is a need to assess the response and provide recommendations to better prepare the country for similar public health emergencies in the future. Some policy lessons learned are that containment and closure policies are not sustainable due to their disruptive effects on the economy and social life; implementation of focused outbreak control measures must be improved; and vaccination remains the most cost-effective control intervention. A media release published in Rappler also shows some of the project results.