Incoming Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. —MALACAÑANG PHOTO
Spare legitimate journalists from attacks.
That was the appeal of acting Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque to supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday night.
Roque, who had earlier threatened to throw hollow blocks at stubborn critics of Duterte, urged the “Duterte Diehard Supporters” or DDS to just give “hot pandesal” to journalists who are critical of the President.
“To my DDS friends: Please leave Pia Ranada alone. Let us please not throw anything at legitimate journalists. Let’s give them, particularly the critical ones, hot pandesal instead,” he said in his Facebook page.
Roque made the statement after RJ Nieto, the person behind the Facebook Page “Thinking Pinoy” asked Roque in a radio DWIZ interview to throw hollow block at Ranada – a Rappler reporter assigned to cover Malacañang and President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Pero sir kahit isang hollow block magbalibag naman kayo, sir, para ano lang pakagat lang ganoon,” Nieto told Roque during a phone interview over DWIZ radio.
Roque replied saying, “Pero dapat pipiliin din ang target.”
Nieto then said: “Kasi ako po, si Pia na lang po. Si Pia Ranada, sir.”
Ranada said she already filed a complaint at the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) against DWIZ.
“It is irrelevant if Nieto or Roque were speaking figuratively or not. A threat is a threat. It is beyond my comprehension why a radio station supposedly recognized by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas would allow a threat to be made against a fellow journalist by one of their hosts,” Ranada said in his Twitter account.
“It is an act of cowardice that has no place in the profession of journalism,” she added.
In a Facebook post accompanied by a screenshot of Ranada’s tweet saying the comment against her was a threat, Nieto said, “@PiaRanada, you really are one f… idiot. And YES, I meant that LITERALLY.”
DWIZ has yet to release a statement regarding the issue.