These days when you lose your cool, you better hope there is nobody with a camera around. Unfortunately for those attending meetings online, they have no control of who can see, hear, document, and share their actuations if they happen to have an outburst.
This happened to Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque on Tuesday, during a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases. A 17-second clip of Mr. Roque—livid as he addressed the president of the Philippine College of Physicians, who was asking the task force to reconsider its decision to relax the quarantine in Metro Manila—surfaced online.
Roque was shouting in the video: “We employ the ‘entire government approach’ thinking about economic ramifications, thinking about the people who will go hungry. It does not mean that we care any less.”
Wagging his finger in front of the screen, he added: “And let me point out to everyone, this group, they have never said anything good about the government response.”
Initially sought for comments, Roque curtly replied that such meetings were supposed to be confidential. On Friday, after his meltdown became public, Roque apologized and said: “I confirm that I became emotional. Sorry, I am only human.”
Immediately after the “apology,” however, Roque asked the public not to liken the task force’s decisions to clinical decisions, and maintained that he was speaking on behalf of the poor and the hungry whose voices were not being heard in the IATF meetings.
The rude behavior nonetheless rankled, among fellow government officials in the meeting, among medical professionals and the general public.
It is customary for people to say “I am only human” when trying to explain reprehensible behavior. To be human is to err and be fallible. Invoking humanity is always a good way to convince others to tolerate boorish behavior. Unfortunately, it has always led us to accept what should be unacceptable
It is time we started seeing humanity not as an excuse for imperfect behavior but as a challenge to be kinder, more compassionate, more open-minded. There are indeed numerous interests that decision-makers should consider and balance—it’s what makes their job so difficult. But at a time when health workers are risking their lives every day while not receiving ample compensation, it does no good at all to scold them for being critical of the government response to the pandemic.
Let’s all take pride in being human —with the ability to listen to different views and humbly acknowledge our failings in order to do better the next time around.