‘Ang bastos mo!’ Roque draws wrath of lady doc over outburst
MANILA, Philippines — She cracked every word that came out of her lips like a whip.
During an online discussion forum on Friday, Dr. Leni Jara gave presidential spokesperson Harry Roque a stern rebuke for castigating doctors who opposed the general community quarantine (GCQ) at the IATF Zoom meeting last Tuesday.
“Bastos mo! (You’re rude!) You should apologize to them; you owe them an apology,” she snapped during an online forum in retaliation to Roque’s flare-up.
“Galit na galit itong si Mr. Harry Roque, he’s berating health professionals,” she went on.
(Mr. Roque is so mad, he’s berating health professionals.)
“Pwede ba, tumigil ka! Sobra ka na, binastos mo na ang mga nagta-trabaho at ang nagliligtas ng mga pasyente,” Jara added.
(Can you please stop! That’s too much; you are disrespecting the workers and those who are saving the patients!)
Jara of the Solidarity of Health Advocates and Personnel for a Unified Plan to Defeat COVID-19 (Shape Up) demanded an apology from Roque after a video of his outburst during the Tuesday meeting went viral. The Philippine Daily Inquirer obtained a copy of the video.
A portion of the video shows a visibly pissed-off Roque flipping off a group of doctors who had expressed grievances over the government’s response, which had been criticized for incompetence and investigated for corruption.
“We employed the ‘entire government approach’ thinking about economic ramifications, thinking about the people (who) will go hungry. It does not mean that we care any less,” snarled Roque.
“And let me point out to everyone, this group, they have never said anything good about the government response,” he said, pointing the finger at his computer screen.
Roque on Friday apologized for being “emotional” during the meeting, saying that “he’s just a human being.”
READ: Roque sorry for ‘emotional’ outburst, claims message was on behalf of hungry people
Even so, Roque’s behavior at the Zoom meeting was met with a firestorm of criticisms from other doctors and social media users.
“You have NOTHING good to say to the Filipinos,” former National Taskforce Advisor Tony Leachon said in a Facebook post on Friday, referring to Roque. “We deserve better leaders!”
At the time of posting, Harry Roque was also trending on Twitter Philippines. The topic “Harry Roque” was tweeted more than 12,800 times.
READ: Kalma, ako lang ‘to: Roque trends on Twitter as video of ‘meltdown’ during IATF meeting turns up
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 is under modified enhanced community quarantine until September 15.
