Jinkee Pacquiao shared pictures of her in a carabao ride with her daughters when they visited her old hometown in Sarangani Province but observers noted the supposed lack of health and safety protocols amid a public health crisis.
The wife of Sen. Manny Pacquiao through Instagram said that she was grateful for the opportunity to return to Kiamba where she grew up and studied elementary.
She said that she revisited her old neighborhood with her daughters Princess and Queenie in a carabao-drawn bamboo cart that was reportedly driven by her former classmate.
“Ang saya saya lang balikan ang nakaraan kung saan sumasakay kami ng kariton noon. Sinasama kami noon papunta sa bukid sa niyugan ng tatay ko sakay ng kariton at ngayon masaya ako na ma-experience ulit na sumakay kasama ang mga anak ko,” Jinkee wrote.
She added that her daughters enjoyed the experience and were not at all frightened.
When news outlets picked up Jinkee’s Instagram post, some Filipinos were not too keen about her pictures since they noticed that most of the people in it were not wearing the requisite face masks.
A Twitter user noticed that only one person wore a face mask in the picture but it was pulled down to his chin.
News anchor Ely Saludar of Eagle Broadcasting Corporation recalled how other less privileged Filipinos would get arrested by authorities for failing to wear a face mask.
“Ibang klase talaga sa Pinas, kapag mayaman at prominente, puwede walang face mask? Pag mahirap dampot agad.. ay ambot!!!” he tweeted in response to Jinkee’s pictures.
During the enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila, at least two individuals faced physical altercation with the authorities for failing to wear a face mask.
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The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases had mandated the wearing of face masks in the public on April 2 as preventive measures against the transmission of the respiratory disease.
Sarangani Province also issued an ordinance signed April 20 that mandated its residents to wear face mask and sanction those who will violate it.
It noted that it will be “in full force until there is no more local transmission in the entire Philippines after an official report to be announced by the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.”
First-time offenders would be subjected to attend a community service or awareness campaign on COVID-19 for at least three hours.
Latest COVID-19 reports from Sarangani indicate that it has a total of nine positive cases as of July 7.
Kiamba, the town where Jinkee was, has one confirmed case in which the infected has a travel history from Dubai to Manila. The report noted that he is in a “stable condition.”
Meanwhile, a physician also noted the lack of face masks in Jinkee’s pictures and pointed out that the socialite and her daughters recently came from Metro Manila, a high-risk region in terms of COVID-19 infections.
“Hindi uso ang mask sa Sarangani? Nakalimutan ata nito na balik probinsya (siya). Kung may mag positive sa Sarangani alam na kung sino ang nagdala,” he wrote.
Jinkee and her children flew to their hometown at General Santos City in Southern Mindanao on June 25, more than two weeks ago.
Travelers are advised to undergo a 14-day quarantine to see if they could be infected with the virus. They are expected to observe themselves for symptoms that may develop within this window.
Other Filipinos also noted that physical distancing was not thoroughly practiced in Jinkee’s pictures, where people are supposed to be at least one meter apart from each other, which is nearly equivalent to a motorcycle’s length.
“You keep on telling us to wear mask and keep physical distance, yet here we have the wife and children of a certain senator, plus several extras, not wearing masks and no physical distancing,” a Twitter user said in response to her pictures.
A Twitter user called the pictures a “cheap PR (public relations) stunt” and recalled that the boxing champion’s wife was previously criticized for posting a pair of Louis Vuitton and Hermès bicycles on Instagram amid a pandemic.
Actress Agot Isidro had called her out and pleaded for her to show “sensitivity” but Jinkee’s camp said that her Instagram posts are not for “us to judge” and justified that the Pacquiao family had earned their wealth without “graft or corruption.”