PTV to investigate use of #DutertePalpak in tweet

The state-owned PTV Network on Tuesday evening said it would investigate the use of a hashtag criticizing the government’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on one of its social media accounts.

While sharing a story on President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to provide free masks on Twitter, the post appeared with #DutertePalpak - a hashtag that trended on Monday amid criticisms from the public.

“President Rodrigo R. #dutertepalpak BTS reiterated his order to provide free masks for the public especially to those who cannot buy their own,” the now-deleted tweet read.

PTV later said that the hashtag was not in the original caption.

“PTV is currently investigating the intent behind this malicious post. Our apologies,” it said.

When sought for comment on the hashtag, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday attributed the surge in COVID-19 cases to new variants of the virus and not the government’s failure in COVID-19 response.

The OCTA Research Group said the Philippines could see 11,000 new COVID-19 cases daily by the end of March as it noted an upward trend in infections.

Meanwhile, the Philippines reported a total of 631,320 confirmed cases, of which 560,736 have recovered and 12,848 have died. — DVM, GMA News