Roque says he did not overreact in calling out CNN reporter

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque believes he did not overreact when he called the attention of a television reporter over an alleged erroneous report since it caused “anger and fear” to the public.

“Ang tanong, baka naman po nag-overreact ako noong tinawag ko ang atensyon ng reporter ng CNN. Sa tingin ko po hindi,” Roque said Thursday in an online press briefing.

(The question is whether or not I overreacted when I called the attention of the CNN reporter. I think I did not.)

“Unang-una, grabe pong nag-trending ang tweet na wala tayong mass testing. Nagalit, natakot ang taumbayan. Hindi po tayo ordinaryong panahon ngayon, paranahon ng pandemic. So yung aking reaksyon naman po, angkop naman po sa sitwasyon na national emergency na meron tayo ngayon,” he added.

(First, the tweet that we did not have mass testing became a trending topic. It caused anger and fear to the public. We are not in ordinary times, we are in a pandemic. I think my reaction was apt to the national emergency that we have right now.)

During his press briefing on Tuesday, Roque singled out CNN Philippines’ Malacañang correspondent Triciah Terada for a supposed erroneous report “Up to private sector to carry out mass testing, Roque says amid limited testing capacity.”

Roque said the government will not conduct “mass testing,” but only carry out an “expanded targeted testing.”

“Ganoon pa man, nagpapasalamat nga po ako dahil na-correct naman ang istorya…Hanggang doon na lamang ‘yun, let’s move on,” Roque said.

(Nonetheless, I’m grateful that the story was corrected. Let’s keep it at that. Let’s move on.)

CNN Philippines, in an earlier statement however, stood by its story and disclosed that the article in question was not written by Terada but by another writer.

Roque also assured he has privately spoken to Terada about the matter and even gave her a peace and finger heart sign when it was her turn to ask during the press briefing.