Senator Cynthia Villar, a well-known Filipino politician and a businesswoman, was asked in a radio interview on August 1, 2020 for a comment on the request of medical workers to place Metro Manila under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) and to grant them a “timeout’ due to the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases in the capital. Villar said, “Hindi na siguro. Pagbutihin nila trabaho nila.” (There is no need. They should just do their jobs better.) This remark angered many people, particularly medical frontliners. Villar faced a major backlash on social media, notably on Twitter, which she trended and received over 60,000 tweets full of criticism, netizens deeming her comment as “outrageous” and “out-of-touch”.
Many users voiced out their sentiments stressing that Villar lacks awareness on the hardships that our medical frontliners are facing every day. Here are some of the tweets:
“She never fails to make such outrageous, out-of-touch, tone-deaf, condescending, antisocial, heartless, irresponsible, egregious, MATAPOBRE remark. SERIOUSLY, WHEN WILL SHE EVER TRULY GROW AN IOTA OF EMPTATHY?” — Francis Baraan IV (@MrFrankBaraan) August 1, 2020
“Don’t you dare tell our medical frontliners to “work harder” if you can’t even do the bare minimum of having competence in public service. At this point, I no longer expect anything but toxicity from #CynthiaVillar”— gwenniemarie (@AquinGwyneth) August 1, 2020
“I don’t think we have competent leaders anymore. I’m just wondering if she has this very good health condition that she will no longer need any medical assistance to utter these insults to our medical practitioners. #CynthiaVillar” — ljcc.inc (@TweetsNiLJ) August 1, 2020
Leni Robredo, the Vice President of the Philippines, also showed her dismay towards the politician through a post saying, “Ang nagko-comment na ‘pagbutihin na lang ang trabaho,’ number one very insensitive. Number two, hindi nila alam kung ano iyong sakripisyo ng ating health workers,” (Those who can afford to comment that health workers should just do better at their jobs are number one, very insensitive. Number two, they do not know the sacrifices of our health workers), she said in her radio show on Sunday.
Villar was quick to make a statement in defense of her comment pertaining that she was referring to the national government and not the health workers. “We have to work harder and better, but I am not referring in particular to the medical workers — our frontliners… there is so much room for improvement in the government’s response to curb the transmission of the disease,” she said.
This is not the first time that Cynthia Villar faced a major backlash over her “insensitive comments”. A couple of months ago, the senator made a remark on how middle-class families shouldn’t be given cash assistance because of their status. “Bakit bibigyan ‘yung middle [class] eh may trabaho sila? Kahit lockdown, sumusuweldo sila sa gobyerno kung employed by the government. Kung employed naman ng mga private, nagsusuweldo din sila. Kaya nga nahihirapan ‘yung mga companies because they have to pay the salaries even if there is no business,” (Why do we need to give cash aid to the middle class when they have jobs? Even during the lockdown, workers receive salaries from the government if they are employed by the government. If they are employed by the private sector, they also receive their salaries. In fact, that’s the reason companies are financially strained because they have to pay the salaries even if there is no business). She released an apology afterwards expressing that she didn’t mean for her statement to cause offense to the “hardworking middle class of the country”. She also added that, “I might have framed my questions and statements in such a manner that made it seem I was insensitive to the plight of the middle-income sector. I am not.”
The COVID-19 cases in the Philippines are continuously increasing day by day and the last thing that our country needs are insensitive comments coming from a politician who is placed in a position of power to be of help to the poor and marginalized sectors of the society. For the moment, we have to bear with our elected officials despite the obvious incompetence that some of them are exhibiting during this crisis. However, we should never forget that we have the power to vote for the right people in the 2022 election. With that said, the name CYNTHIA VILLAR will always be remembered… and not for the right reasons.
