Following the confirmation that a new variant of the COVID-19 was traced to have been originated in the Philippines, several Netizens and social media personalities have shared their reactions.
In her tweet, singer-actress Agot Isidro sarcastically asked about Pinoy Pride and how excellent the government is. It is perhaps her spite to Palace Spokesperson Harry Roque’s recent pronouncement that the Duterte administration was excellent in addressing the pandemic.
“Nasaan na ang Pinoy Pride??? Excellent, di ba? (smirk emoticon),” she tweeted.
Veteran journalist Inday Espina Varona also took a pot shot on Duterte saying how excellent the government is for creating a variant of the COVID-19 and exporting it to other countries.
“World class talaga si Tatay D, ano? Biro mo, nakagawa ang Pilipinas ng new COVID-19 variant! Nag-export pa! Excellent! The bestest in the solar system!,” Varona said.
World class talaga si Tatay D, ano? Biro mo, nakagawa ang Pilipinas ng new COVID-19 variant! Nag-export pa! Excellent! The bestest in the solar system!
— inday espina varona (@indayevarona) March 13, 2021
Netizen Zion Ryan Cruz meanwhile suggested that the Philippine variant be named as Duterte Variant in honor of what he called the ‘greatest President in the solar system’.
“I know that it isn’t convention but I will informally call the Philippine variant as the Duterte covid variant in honor of the greatest president in the solar system Duterte deserves to be honored this way.”
I know that it isn’t convention but I will informally call the Philippine variant as the Duterte covid variant in honor of the greatest president in the solar system
Duterte deserves to be honored this way https://t.co/wUmCVJbJTd
— Zion Ryan Cruz (@zryanverse) March 13, 2021
Same with @renhu2, who also said that the variant should have the name after Duterte.
“The “Philippine variant” is not to be called as such. It is because it has to be called the “Duterte variant.”
The "Philippine variant" is not to be called as such. It is because it has to be called "Duterte variant."
— Laurene II (@RenHu2) March 13, 2021
On Saturday, March 13, DOH has confirmed the detection of a new COVID-19 variant found in the Philippines.
The DOH however referred to it as the P.3 variant saying it is not acceptable to name the variant to a place of its detection.
“I’d like to establish na we call this as the P.3 variant. We want to do away with referring to it as the Philippine variant kasi nga hindi acceptable practice na we assign place names,” said Dr. Anna Ong-Lim of DOH.
DOH has reported 98 cases of this kind of virus, saying the Philippine Genome Center has reassigned 85 cases previously detected having ‘mutations of concerns’ to the P3.
Meanwhile, aside from serious reactions to the new variant, there were Netizens also who even made jokes out of it.
According to @MrMorrel, instead of calling it the Philippine variant or P.3 variant why not just call it “Beerus”, the word often used by President Duterte to describe COVID-19.
“Let’s not call it as Covid 19 Philippine Variant. haba eh. let us call it… Beerus!,” the Netizen tweeted.
let's not call it as Covid 19 Philippine Variant. haba eh. let us call it…
Beerus! https://t.co/gbf3mzNm8R
— morrel (@MrMorrel) March 14, 2021
@JamesVelinaLXIX on the other hand slammed the government’s incompetence that resulted in the new variant being detected first in Japan.
“May Philippine variant na ng covid-19 ang na-discover sa Japan!! Congrats to the government for its shameless incompetence!”
https://twitter.com/JamesVelinaLXIX/status/1370402979849793542
@citizenjaneph also sarcastically slammed the government for its handling of the pandemic which resulted in the new variant and another major surge of COVID-19 cases.
“Congrats, government. Due to your ‘excellent’ handling of covid in the PH, we may now have a Philippine variant and major second surge.”
Congrats, government. Due to your ‘excellent’ handling of covid in the PH, we may now have a Philippine variant and major second surge.
— Citizen Jane (@citizenjaneph) March 13, 2021
