Looking back on January 29, 2020, Duterte acted against implementing a travel ban between the PH and China despite the Philippines being at risk of acquiring the virus. Netizens all over the country were already calling for a travel ban, but the authorities waived it off by not considering its threat to public health and safety. 

Instead of being proactive in analyzing the situation, the government was finally alarmed when the Department of Health (DOH) reported the first case of COVID-19 in the country — a Chinese woman who traveled from Wuhan China, the epicenter of the outbreak. Back then, It was unexpected that the situation of our country would have been worse than what was imagined as it has the longest lockdown implemented in the world. In terms of COVID-19 cases, 10,000 confirmed cases were recorded in three months. However, the confirmed cases to heighten up to 20,000 in less than a week after which crippled the country from flattening the curve.

Amidst the crisis, recent issues such as the white sand project of Manila Bay with a ₱389 million fund during the COVID-19 pandemic have taken place, which heightened activism across various social media platforms. Apart from this, Vice President Leni Robredo claims that the government’s initiative to overlay white sand across the shores of Manila Bay could have fed over 80,000 families who were left starving due to the pandemic. The funds used could have also been directed to the Department of Education in printing their modules as well as providing digital access to teachers and students.

Even before the pandemic, there have been people who are critical of the government due to the administration’s drug war and other issues. But this pandemic, the government’s retroactive leadership surged masses to censure the leaders’ responses to the crisis. Online rallies have escalated following hashtags like #PaalamDuterte, #LetLeniLead, and many more everyday. Furthermore, the alleged bias of the government, who gives favor to influential people as compared to regular citizens, also infuriated the netizens. For instance, Ina Nacino, an activist who was jailed without sufficient evidence was heavily guarded while visiting the wake of her daughter while Imelda Marcos walks free with a conviction of seven graft cases.

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In short, the response of the government to the COVID-19 outbreak as well as their seeming indifference by not implementing a travel ban earlier resulted in a prevalent culture of activism and criticism in social media. Several tweets posted by various individuals in the country criticizing the former secretary of the president Senator Bong Go pushed Go to ask the NBI to probe social media posts criticizing him.

“We wrote letters to the NBI requesting them to conduct investigations on certain social media posts that may fall under possible violations of the cybercrime law, particularly libel, and other applicable laws,” Senator Bong Go said last July 16, 2020.

After which, several subpoenas were sent by the NBI to several individuals across the country including a college student. Bong Go’s subpoena request took an unfavorable turn on the senator’s part, causing the hashtag “T*nginaMoBongGo” to top twitter’s trending list as netizens further bullied and made fun of the senator for being “thin-skinned”. Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV slammed Bong Go for filing a cybercrime complaint against a student.

Although the rising culture of online activism can be unfavorable to the government at most, the indifference and incompetence of our government brought criticism upon themselves by not taking preventive and strategic measures when our country was already at risk of the virus and furthermore prioritizing the aesthetics of our country rather than its citizens. Regardless, Filipinos should observe responsible online etiquette.

Sources:
https://www.ibon.org/the-unbelievable-indifference-of-the-duterte-administration/
https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/4/21/interactive-timeline-PH-handling-COVID-19.html?fbclid=IwAR3oH2HZ138-xHJc3W4dcOwGhfD8gcDnQGxLti-Nqb2-Ka2-e2g_LACqDvk
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2020/9/6/Manila-Bay-white-sand-80-000-hungry-families-pandemic.html
https://twitter.com/gideonlasco/status/1302810586711875585
https://www.rappler.com/nation/bong-go-asked-nbi-probe-social-media-posts-against-him
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/17/20/malakas-makapang-bully-trillanes-slams-go-over-cybercrime-complaint-vs-college-student

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Leala Ko
Therese Catapang