March 8, 3,276 new cases of COVID-19 have brought a total in the Philippines to 594,412. However, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque claimed that the country had controlled the spread of infectious disease.
Roque said, “We were excellent, nakontrol po natin ang pagkalat ng sakit.”
Over Twitter, celebrities and Netizens irked at Roque’s assumption that the Philippines had a successful pandemic response.
Pia Magalona suggested that the government–must pass into law prohibiting a public official from any airtime if they only give false statements, which Roque did during yesterday’s briefing.
There oughtta be law against even giving any airtime to these false statements!! https://t.co/hEakz5mzVp
— Pia Magalona ⁷ (@piamagalona) March 8, 2021
Read the news [to Roque] to get updated about the growing number of cases in the country, advised by the writer-activist Dino Manrique.
Moreover, the country’s economy is currently in critical condition because of the pandemic and the lockdown, which lasted for months.
WTF? Nagbabasa ka ba ng news, Harry Roque??!
— Dino Manrique 🧢 (@filipinowriter) March 8, 2021
@The13thSwiftie stressed that the Philippines did not succeed in battling the coronavirus. In fact, the nation is now at the beginning of COVID-19’s second wave.
we’re literally in the beginning of the (not-so-obvious-bc-cases-have-always-been-too-high) second wave of the pandemic what the actual hell are you talking about https://t.co/8VGyfP146B
— HAR (@The13thSwiftie) March 8, 2021
Netizen @lolitsrissa_ emphasized that Roque’s way of buttering the situation is not right since Filipinos have experienced how the government handled the covid cases in the country.
https://twitter.com/lolitsrissa_/status/1368843834570862594
@lars_lenon even said that he is now 500% convinced that the government is delusional. The reason is that the country is still under trials for the vaccine. That is why the netizen is questioning how the spokesperson described the efforts of the government as “excellent” if it’s still at the early stages.
Meanwhile, other countries have already implemented their vaccination drive and have inoculated most of their citizens. The Philippines on the other hand has just received the first batch of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines.
I'm 500% convinced that the government is delusional.
How do we know we're controlling the virus if we are under-testing? What parameters are we "excellent" at?SMH, bold claims but no/shitty data to back it up. https://t.co/AEdXKAOkDI
— lars ~may never come back~ (@leyolenon) March 8, 2021
@jovian_lizard could not take how the government continues to lie to Filipinos. It’s because many of the country’s health care workers have offered their lives to combat the pandemic to which the administration has underestimated.
Back then, Roque considers the pandemic as a “vacation” with many lost lives, and a majority of Filipinos are jobless. The Secretary thinks of the lockdown and the quarantine as leisure time.
It's disgusting how we're being lied to like this. You spit on the grave of every HCW and Filipino who has died to prove you wrong. Why aren't we outraged yet? We deserve much better than this. https://t.co/lGbbUIfxiR
— VanguardVitamins wants happiness and love (@jovian_lizard) March 8, 2021
Roque’s claims angered many Netizens, including @mffernandezxiv, who ridiculed the government’s “managed excellently” the pandemic, considering that the nation’s quarantine is nearing its anniversary.
excellent management pala kaya nakakulong tayo sa loob ng bahay mag-iisang taon na https://t.co/fEhC2eTTJb
— mari (@mffernandezxiv) March 8, 2021
Twitter personality Jericho Fernandez called out the spokesperson for spewing lies that the Philippines had COVID under control when studies have shown that the country is ranked as worst when it comes to the pandemic response.
Sino bang pinagloloko nitong kupal na ito? Anong na-control eh tayo nga ang may pinakapoor response laban sa Covid 19 https://t.co/zsVS6Lo2mu
— Jericho M. Fernandez (@iJerichoTweets) March 8, 2021
Lowy Institute’s COVID Performance Index placed the Philippines in 78th out of 98 countries based on its performance in battling the coronavirus. It got an average score of 30.6, making it one of the worst countries to ever respond against covid.
Furthermore, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Philippines has shrunk to 9.5%. One of the worst economic dip the country has faced since 1998.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. also admitted that the country was late in procuring vaccines. Bangladesh, a poorer country has beaten the Philippines in acquiring vaccines as the latter already received the first five million doses of Covishield in January.
