Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque rejected the call of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) to apologize to CNN reporter for berating and cutting her off during a press conference for allegedly misquoting him on government’s coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) testing efforts.
“I don’t owe anything to NUJP. I’ve done work for NUJP, they probably owe me, I don’t owe them,” Roque said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) on Wednesday.
In a televised media briefing on May 19, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque scolded a reporter – the wrong one – during a live broadcast. Roque took a jab at a news report by CNN Philippines with the headline, “Up to private sector to carry out mass testing, Roque says amid limited testing capacity.”
Roque did not initially mentioned CNN Philippines, and just said one network had failed to accurately report what he said in the previous day’s briefing concerning “mass testing” for COVID-19.
Lumalabas po kasi na wala daw diumanong plano at walang aksiyon o hindi prayoridad ng gobyerno ang expanded target testing. Maling-mali po ito,” Roque adamantly defended the administration. [Because it was made to appear that the government allegedly has no plan or action, or that the expanded target testing is not a priority. This is very wrong.]
He chastised the network for insinuating that the government has passed on to the private sector the responsibility for expanded testing, which is not true, according to him. Roque said his statement was taken out of context.
Roque also touched on the definition of ‘mass testing’ and why it should not be the termed used for the testing the government is doing.
“Unang-una, siguro po kasi mali iyong ginagamit nating term na ‘mass testing.’ Ang tawag po dapat ay ‘expanded targeted testing,’ okay? Wala pong bansa sa buong mundo na tini-test ang lahat ng kanilang mga mamamayan. Kaya nga po mali ang terminong ‘mass testing,’” he said. [First of all, maybe it’s because we’ve been using the wrong term, “mass testing.” It should be called “expanded targeted testing,” okay? No country in the world tests all its citizens. That’s why the term “mass testing” is wrong.]
He also explained the parameters for identifying who should be tested for the virus. The symptomatic, international arrivals, close contacts, or traced contacts of confirmed patients, and those who’ve tested positive in rapid antibody tests are mandatorily tested for COVID-19. These are the subjects of “expanded targeted testing,” which the government is now enforcing.
Triciah Terada of CNN Philippines asked why mass testing can’t be done by the government in the Q&A portion with reporters to which Roque answered, “Mali kasi iyong term na ginamit mo kaya tuloy nagkagulo sa Twitter…. Kasi ang lumalabas, Trish, sa report mo, ay wala tayong expanded testing program.” [See, you used the wrong term, that’s why there was chaos on Twitter…. Because it looks as though, Trish, in your report, that we don’t have an expanded testing program.
For Roque, “mass testing” was in the context of Wuhan, China, which plans to test all its 11 million residents for the coronavirus. He then pointed out to Terada how her report made it look like the government had no plans on “expanded testing.”
Terada tried to answer his allegations, “Sir, I have to correct that, with your indulgence…” she began, but Roque cut her off.
“Well, you don’t have to correct it if you don’t want to. Pero you are not doing the entire nation a service for doing that ’no?” Roque iterated.
Terada tried to answer again, but Roque ignored her. “Next question, please,” he said.
In response to this incident, CNN Philippines released an official statement Tuesday night, May 19, saying it was standing by its report that said the government had no mass testing program for COVID-19. It was, as they said, based on Roque’s own words.
The statement also emphasized that in fact, it was not Terada who wrote the report. “We find unfortunate the manner by which the Secretary treated our Malacañang correspondent Triciah Terada in today’s televised press conference….For the record, Ms. Terada did not write the digital story,” the statement read.
“It is likewise regrettable that Ms Terada was not given a chance to challenge the allegations made against her and defend herself from the public attack that could harm her reputation as a journalist and a professional,” it added.
