Defeated senatorial candidate and former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay couldn’t hide his anger anymore towards President Rodrigo Duterte after the latter defended the Chinese people amid the 2019-nCoV scare in the Philippines.

On a tweet, Hilbay made a comment to Duterte’s call to end the Sinophobia or bad treatment against the Chinese in the Philippines.

He called Duterte a ‘puppet’ and asked how he’s going to help the Filipinos amid the possible outbreak in the country.

“Oo ser alam na naming tuta ka, pero ang tanong: P***** I** PAANO MO TUTULUNGAN ANG PILIPINAS AT ANG MGA PILIPINO?” Hilbay said.

One of his followers expressed concern over the temper of Hilbay and asked him to calm down.

“Kalma lang pañero. Ang puso mo,” @atty_don told Hilbay.

“asar e. sige, shot muna ko ng gin,” Hilbay responded.

Hilbay is one of the critics of the Duterte administration and China.

On his past tweet, Hilbay also claimed that China tried to hide the outbreak to the world.

“China didn’t disclose the full extent of the new coronavirus outbreak. It stifled the free flow of information. That is why people, institutions, & organizations weren’t able to react properly. The Philippines should learn from this error. YOU CAN’T STOP AN OUTBREAK W CENSORSHIP,” he said.

China didn't disclose the full extent of the new coronavirus outbreak. It stifled free flow of information. That is why people, institutions, & organizations weren't able to react properly.

The Philippines should learn from this error.

YOU CAN'T STOP AN OUTBREAK W CENSORSHIP.

— Pilo Hilbay (@fthilbay) February 3, 2020

In a press conference in Malacanang Monday, Duterte said that the public should refrain from treating the Chinese badly in the country.

“China has been kind to us. We can only also show the same favor to them. Stop this sinophobia,” Duterte said.

“You know it is not only a case of bad taste but it is not good for us Filipinos to be saying that. Ngayon (Now) they are blaming the Chinese na galing sa (coming from) China. It could always incubate in some other places. It happened in China, at least the first. But that is not the fault of anybody. Not the Chinese, not the Filipino, no one,” he added.

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go had already enough with the critics of the Duterte administration and spreader of fake news amid the 2019 novel coronavirus scare in the Philippines.

During the hearing of the Senate on the 2019-nCoV, Go mentioned the ‘bashers’ and trolls’ who are only spreading negative thoughts and false information on social media to destroy the popularity of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Go told the people he mentioned that they’re also should be put in quarantine like the suspected nCoV carriers.

“Yung mga panay dada naman diyan para lang makapagsalita, mga bashers na sumasakay sa sitwasyon para sa pansariling interes, mga taong gusto lang magdulot ng panic, at mga nagpapakalat ng fake news, kayo ang dapat i-quarantine para hindi kayo makahawa,” said Go.

He urged the critics of the government on social media to show themselves and participate in the senate hearing so they could contribute in the fight against nCoV.

“Sa mga trolls at bashers naman, welcome kayo pumunta dito sa public hearing, sumali kayo. Pakiusap ko po, tumulong na lang tayo. Unahin natin ang kapakanan, kalusugan at interes ng bawat Pilipino,” he said.

The Senator from Davao City insisted that the government is doing its best to prevent the spread of the virus.

Go also urged the people not to blame the Chinese for the nCoV scare and instead, help each other.

“We empathize with China given what they are going through but we are putting these precautionary measures in place to protect the country and its people… As part of a community, the Philippine government should be committed to assist other affected countries to address this worldwide health concern,” he said.

The current administration faced its biggest challenge this year as the Department of Health (DOH) already confirmed two cases of nCoV in the country.

Criticisms against the government heightened, and even politicians like Senator Francis Pangilinan couldn’t hide their disappointment with the current administration.

“Kung sa tingin ng gobyerno na ligtas ang ating mga kababayan at hindi kailangan ng travel ban sa mga galing ng China dapat mula airport derecho silang lahat sa Malakanyan,” Pangilinan said, who’s also the President of Liberal Party.

Former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque criticized the ‘yellows’ for trying to politicize the 2019 novel coronavirus by pushing President Rodrigo Duterte to be the first country to ban travelers from mainland China.

On Roque’s Facebook post, he claimed that only Filipinos seem to talk about politics in the middle of 2019-nCoV and don’t want to accept the decision of the government to wait for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) announcement before making such travel bans.

“Only in the Philippines will you see enemies of the administration politicizing even a public health crisis such as the novel coronavirus (nCoV). Sure, countries may have beaten us in banning all flights from Mainland China by a day or two. But as soon as the WHO (World Health Organization) declared the nCoV as an international public health emergency, the President followed suit and banned all flights originating from China, Macau and Hong Kong,” said Roque.

“The yellows, as usual, claimed it was our subservience to China that led to the belated banning. Rubbish. It was the science that led to the President’s decision. Without the WHO declaration, an earlier total ban on any contact with China would have been driven by hysteria or, worse, xenophobia,” he added.

“By banning flights from China after the WHO declaration, we only responded in the same manner as almost all countries in the world did. Yes, I’m sure our newfound friendship did count in PRRD’s decision. What is wrong with that? After all, as Filipinos, we know the true value of friendship.” he also said.

The lawyer then reminded the Filipino people that not only China is the country that brought a virus in the country.

Roque mentioned that the government didn’t ban the Americans to visit the Philippines during the H1N1 outbreak.

He insisted that the decision of the government to issue travel bans should be “based on science and not panic and hysteria”.

A few days ago, netizens criticized the current administration for not immediately issuing a travel ban on China.

Some Chinese who are already in the Philippines also reportedly received bad treatment from some Filipinos they encountered as they seen as a possible carrier of nCoV.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that they’re satisfied with the action of the Duterte administration to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the Philippines, saying that they’re doing a great job in responding to the situation.

“We are satisfied so far with the measures being implemented by the government of the Philippines,” WHO Representative to the Philippines, Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said in a press conference in Malacanang on Monday.

“WHO commends their [sic] actions taken by the Philippine Government to strengthen its preparedness, to build capacity to detect cases,” he added.

“I believe that the Philippine government has been responding to an evolving situation,” Abeyasinghe also said.

WHO vowed to continue working with the Philippine government to “increase its preparedness and response capacities” in dealing with the nCoV outbreak.

“We continue to work with them to increase their preparedness in case there is evidence of local transmission,” he said.

After seeing the action of the government, Abeyasinghe expressed his confidence that nCoV is going to be controlled soon in the Philippines.

WHO made the said statement amid the criticisms being received by the government from some netizens, accusing the government officials of not doing their best to prevent nCoV from spreading around the country.

Some people even called for the resignation of President Rodrigo Duterte and criticized him for letting the tourists from mainland China enter the country despite the outbreak in Wuhan.

Amid the nCoV scare, a group is planning to organize a mass demonstration in EDSA Shrine on February 22, 2020, and they’re hoping that the said gathering could pressure President Rodrigo Duterte to leave his office.

Enzo Recto, one of the most vocal netizens about the ‘People Power 3’ event said that they’re a member of a group called ‘BUNYOG’ which means ‘United’.

According to him, they’re already tired of President Duterte’s performance and expressed dissatisfaction with the action of the government during the Taal volcano erption and failing to prevent the spread of 2019-nCoV in the Philippines.

“Nang mag-erupt ang Taal, mas private sector ang tumugon sa pangangailangan ng mga tao. Ngayong pumutok ang krisis sa coronavirus, mas inisip pa ng gobyerno ang ikakasama ng loob ng China kung iba-ban ang mga Intsik sa pagpasok sa bansa, kaysa sa sariling kapakanan at kaligtasan ng sariling mamamayan.”