Kalma, ako lang ‘to: Roque trends on Twitter as video of ‘meltdown’ during IATF meeting  turns up

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque became a trending topic on Twitter on Friday shortly after a video obtained by the Inquirer showing him berating doctors during a meeting of the Interagency Taskforce on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) with medical experts made rounds on social media.

The official mouthpiece of President Rodrigo Duterte ranked as the fifth most tweeted personality on Twitter Philippines as of this posting.

The topic “Harry Roque” was tweeted more than 6,801 times.

But Roque’s admonishing of medical doctors in the IATF meeting did not sit well with the users of the platform.

In the video, a visibly incensed Roque said: “Thinking about economic ramifications, thinking about people who will go hungry does not mean we care any less … This group, they have never said anything good about government response.”

“We’re trying to achieve total health. Who wants COVID to kill people? Are you saying that only medical frontliners are concerned about the health of the people?”

“We all want to save lives, for crying out loud. No one in government wants a single life lost! No one! How dare you think that we are not considering steps to prevent the loss of lives?” he continued.

READ: Roque berates docs opposing GCQ during Zoom meet

The IATF meeting supposedly took place shortly before Roque’s announcement on Tuesday night that the government had deferred its decision to pilot granular lockdowns and ease Metro Manila’s lockdown status to a less stringent general community quarantine.

Metro Manila was instead placed under an extended modified enhanced community quarantine until September 15.

Screengrab from Twitter

KGA