Who is the ‘pasaway’? Duterte’s pandemic (COVID-19) blame game narrative

To the Editor,

In a recent article published in this journal, the author attempted to contextualize the COVID-19 crisis through the lens of the Darwinian struggle for life and the philosophical notion of suffering, while stressing the importance of defects admission. Generally, according to the author, these concepts are the primary roots of other dimensions of COVID-19-related studies.¹ This paper hopes to add to this discussion and will try to debunk Duterte’s toxic ‘pasaway’ (hard-headed) pandemic blame game narrative.

The Philippines is one of the worst-hit countries in south-east Asia and is battling the worst Covid-19 surge in the region.² Yet, being on the top list has been highly contested by health advocacy groups who argue that the relatively low number of recorded cases is due to the lack of government’s mass testing efforts.³ On 16 April 2020, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque expressed his utmost disappointment, ‘so many of us are hardheaded. Because of that, we’re number one in ASEAN in terms of COVID-19 cases. That’s shameful. Stop being hard-headed and stay at home’.⁴ This narrative is very common to hear, especially from the side of the government, which had been parroted by no less than the president himself, his minions and government officials alike, calling people as ‘pasaway.’ This kind of finger-pointing simply passes blatant blame of accusation to the Filipino people. However, this lethargic accusation is without basis. For example, UK think tank YouGov tries to track people’s health behaviors in response to COVID-19 in a global survey. The result shows otherwise and that Filipinos are not as ‘pasaway’ as the government would have thought.⁵ In another survey conducted around 22–28 June 2020, Philippines came out second out of 27 countries in wearing masks outside the home; second in always washing hands with soap and water; first in always using hand sanitizers and first in always avoiding crowded areas.⁴

Who is the true culprit? How do high-profile officials conduct themselves in public? High-profile personalities unfortunately are the ones violating their own health protocols: a famous senator who visited a hospital and endangered its staff when he was supposed to be in quarantine⁶; an Overseas Welfare Workers Administration (OWWA) official who conducted a mass gathering with Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) during lockdown⁷; a police chief who allowed the conduct of a big birthday party-cum-mananita⁸ and a presidential spokesman who went out of town to frolic with the dolphins.⁹ They are just a few examples of the pasaways who never set a good example to the people whom they govern.