Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto corrected claims that the whole Pasig City Hall was closed down due to COVID-19 infected staff members.
In Facebook post on Wednesday, Sotto advised the public that some offices of the Pasig City Hall would be in lockdown for the meantime after some employees tested positive for the deadly disease.
He noted that one of the offices included the city administrator’s office.
“We have locked down several offices at City Hall, including the City Administrator’s Office, due to several staff members testing positive for COVID-19,” he said.
“Hinihingi ko po ang inyong pangunawa. Hindi pa normal ang trabaho sa City Hall..tapos ngayon napilayan na naman tayo. Pagod na tayo. Pero kakayanin natin to. Laban lang ng laban, mga Pasigueño!” he added.
However, in a tweet on Thursday, the city chief executive bared that he received rumors from a Viber group chat saying that the entire Pasig City Hall was in lockdown.
This chatter also supposed that the city’s COVID-19 vaccination was suspended.
“Nag announce lang ako na lockdown ang City Administrator’s Office…tapos ang nakarating nang balita sa isang Viber group ay lockdown daw buong city hall at tinigil daw ang pagbabakuna,” he said.
Sotto dismissed these information as merely false rumors.
“Mabilis kumalat ang COVID-19 pero mas mabilis kumalat ang tsismis!” he said.
Nag announce lang ako na lockdown ang City Administrator’s Office… tapos ang nakarating nang balita sa isang viber group ay lockdown daw buong city hall at tinigil daw ang pagbabakuna…
Mabilis kumalat ang covid pero mas mabilis kumalat ang tsismis!
— Vico Sotto (@VicoSotto) September 2, 2021
Some users who reacted to this tweet quipped that it was Marites’ fault.
“New variant: Marites,” one user said with a laughing emoji.
“The spirit of Marites is among us,” another user wrote.
The character ‘Marites’ is considered as the Filipino version of ‘Karen,’ an unlikeable white female character in the United States.
Marites was popularized by TikTok content creator Justine Luzares who was known for his impressive ability to put on different accents in his videos.
RELATED: Cup of tea from ‘Marites’: Get to know Justine Luzares, TikTok creator known for his accents
Some online users urged fellow Filipinos to be vigilant when consuming and sharing information online.
“Naku! Ugaliin po natin magvalidate ng information lalo’t if about Pasig and COVID-19. Lagi naman may update si Mayor, napaka dali i-verify,” one user said.
As of August 31, Pasig City administered 585,829 COVID-19 vaccine to eligible residents.
Of these, 373,653 COVID-19 jabs were for first dose and the rest of the 212,176 vaccines were for second dose.
Pasic City Public Information Office also provided detailed statistics per vaccine brand:
- 328,828 are Sinovac’s CoronaVac
- 109,187 are Oxford-AstraZeneca
- 81,415 are Pfizer-BioNTech
- 3,811 are Gamaleya’s Sputnik V
- 11,879 are Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen
- 50,709 are Moderna
