Duterte’s spokesman gets skewered online over rant vs doctors: ‘Shame on you!’; ‘Saang planeta ka ba galing?’

Twitter erupted with jokes and insults towards President Duterte’s spokesman after his angry outburst against doctors was caught on tape.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque is probably the least popular Cabinet member nowadays as many netizens denounced his offensive rage against doctors in the middle of a pandemic.

Roque has drawn growing outrage on social media after he was outed as the Cabinet official who spewed insults against doctors during a virtual meeting of the government task force. The hashtag #kalmaAkoLangto, which Roque’s PR team tried to popularize, backfired as netizens used it to diss him for bullying the health frontliners. The hashtag has landed on the top 10 trending topics on Sept. 10, 2021.

Some netizens criticized Roque’s gall for disrespecting medical frontliners when the government has been remiss in promptly giving their benefits. Others slammed Roque for allegedly being a “nightmare,” “garbage,” among other vile names, and wished he would lose in the 2022 senatorial elections.

Manila doctor Tony Leachon first bared about the rude behavior of a Cabinet member towards physician leaders during a recent IATF meeting. Leachon, without naming the official, demanded an apology for the verbal abuse. The Philippine Daily Inquirer later published a report identifying Roque who berated the doctors who opposed the government’s to ease the quarantine protocols in Metro Manila due to concerns about the rising COVID-19 cases. Roque’s meltdown was caught on video, which has been released on social by PDI reporter Marlon Ramos.

@vinceliban commented: “hindi nyo na nga nire-recognize at properly kino-compensate ang medical workers & health experts, binabastos nyo pa @attyharryroque. the dISRESPECT! SHAME ON YOU & THIS GOVERNMENT!!!”

“Spox sang planeta ka ba nanggaling?” @stanley james commented on Twitter.

Spox sang planeta ka ba nanggaling?
— Stanley James Chong (@stanleyjames) September 10, 2021

Another Twitter user criticized Roque for disrespecting doctors especially he was previously implicated in a quarantine protocol breach. “Oh, isn’t he one of those violators of quarrantine protocols?? The audicity to talk like that to a doctor. Shame on you harry roque,” @BabyBossJimin wrote.

Another netizen commented that Roque should not have been treated by doctors when he got infected with COVID-19. When he contracted COVID-19 last April, Roque managed to secure a hospital room at the state-run Philippine General Hospital while others had a hard time finding beds due to case surge, citing his deep ties with the University of the Philippines.

@docbenjisays wrote: “Well all I can say – putanginang baboy yan. Dapat when he got sick no one took care of the pig.”

Well all I can say – putanginang baboy yan. Dapat when he got sick no one took care of the pig.
— docbenjisays (@docbenjisays) September 9, 2021

Check out the other mean tweets against Roque:

Dalhin asap si Harry Roque sa dolomite beach to cure his meltdown#kalmaAkoLangTo
— Mong Palatino (@mongster) September 10, 2021

Hindi kalma. Ikaw nga yan. https://t.co/zVs5t59Pft
— Antonio L. Tinio (@tonchi) September 10, 2021

Kalma lang Harry Roque. Ingrato ka demonyo ka. Palibhasa kasi nung nagka-COVID dinaan mo sa pagka- VIP yung paghanap mo ng ICU bed sa PGH.#kALmaAkoLangTo https://t.co/N83SjYpq1R
— Alberto de los Reyes (@albertsdr) September 10, 2021

There is nothing good to say about the govt's pandemic response #TaeKaHarry whatever happened to #KalmaAkoLangTo https://t.co/GL8zpGiWP8
— Francine (@_francinegayle) September 10, 2021