Ex-Pinoy Big Brother housemate, Slater Young has a message to all those who want to attribute the perseverance of people to “Filipino strength” during a public health crisis.
Slater said that people should “avoid romanticizing” the struggles Filipinos are facing during the health crisis, because “no one wants to be resilient.”
On his Twitter account, the 32-year-old social media personality expressed his frustration with how government officials romanticize ‘resiliency’.
“Can we please stop glorifying Filipino resilience? The most ‘resilient’ among us have it the hardest. Nobody wants to have to be resilient. Let’s stop romanticizing it.”
Can we please stop glorifying Filipino resilience? The most “resilient“ among us have it the hardest. Nobody wants to have to be resilient. Let’s stop romanticizing it.
— Slater Young (@thatguySLATER) August 17, 2020
Young’s comment came after Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said that he was very delighted because the unemployment rate in the country was ‘only’ at 45%.
“Ako po’y nagagalak na hindi tayo 100% nawalan ng trabaho kasi sa tagal po na nakalockdown tayo, I’m still surprised at our resilience, at 45 % pa lang po ang nawawalan ng trabaho. It could have been worse kasi nga po complete lockdown ang nangyayari sa atin.”
"It could have been worse" is Palace spokesperson Harry Roque's response to the SWS survey saying 45.5% of Filipino adults, or around 27.3 million, are jobless. https://t.co/YGYKgtUdvn pic.twitter.com/Wxha2WO58c
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) August 17, 2020
Roque clarified that the increase in the rate of unemployment is attributed to the months of lockdown that impacted the economy.
Trying to look for a bright side to the case, the spox said that he was “happy” that it was at least 100%.
This caused Slater to directly responded with a follow-up tweet to Roque’s insensitive tweet saying that the situation “could have been worse”, “45% pa lang? It could be worse. Oh 60% na? It could be worse 80%??? It could still be worse “It could be worse’ is an excuse ‘It could be better’ is being accountable”
45% pa lang? It could be worse
Oh 60% na? It could be worse
80%??? It could still be worse
“It could be worse” is an excuse
“It could be better” is being accountable
— Slater Young (@thatguySLATER) August 17, 2020
As of July 2020, 45.5 percent or 27.3 million Filipino adults were unemployed, according to the Social Weather Station (SWS). It is a 28-point jump from the estimated rate of unemployment among adults in December 2019, 17.1%.
The Bukluran Labor Group ng Manggagawang Pilipino slammed Roque’s “toxic positivity” on the subject. Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) chairman Luke Espiritu said Roque’s statement was an insult to the 27.3 million jobless adult Filipinos.
“By expressing his delight that the unemployment rate did not reach 100% and by further asserting that this was due to our supposed resilience, Mr. Roque deeply insulted the 27.3 million unemployed Filipinos who are currently at a loss on how they are going to survive the foreseeable future.”
Slater Young is a Filipino actor and television personality from Cebu. Young is best known for winning Pinoy Big Brother: Unlimited in 2012 where he was called “The Cebu Hotshot Engineer.”
