Harry Roque's Myopic View Of Tacloan Killings

 

The geopolitical space has witnessed many scientific breakthroughs, but former Presidential Spokesperson Atty. Harry Roque is suffering from a severe case of myopia and a brand-new psychological phenomenon: Hyper-Localized Temporal Amnesia.

Following the tragic school shooting in Tacloban, Harry took to social media to mount his favorite high horse and deliver a profoundly bewildered soliloquy:

“Ano ba hong nangyayari sa ating mga eskwelahan? Bakit noong panahon naman ni Tatay Digong wala tayong nabalitaan na ganitong pangyayari na patayan sa loob ng ating mga classrooms?”

It is a beautiful, pristine piece of historical fiction. According to the Gospel of Harry, the years 2016 to 2022 were a pastoral, utopian era where classrooms were sanctuaries of pure peace, birds chirped in harmony, and the concept of violence simply did not exist inside a school zone.

Unfortunately for Harry, the internet retains something he completely lacks: a memory. Netizens were blindingly quick to deploy the receipts, shaking him off his high horse so fast he barely had time to look for his next hiding spot.

Let’s talk about Harry's claim that "wala tayong nabalitaan" (we heard nothing of the sort) during the Duterte administration.

Netizens immediately reminded the former spokesperson of a devastating incident in 2019—the absolute peak of the Duterte era—where a Grade 7 student was shot and killed right inside his classroom in Calamba, Laguna.

[ THE HARRY ROQUE TEMPORAL FILTRATION SYSTEM ]

* REALITY (2019): A Grade 7 student is shot dead inside a classroom in Laguna during the Duterte administration.

* HARRY’S MEMORY ARCHIVE: "Error 404: Incident Not Found. Classrooms were filled with rainbows and discipline until June 30, 2022."

*Philstar.com reported in 2019: Grade 3 student binasag ang ulo ... ginilitan.

*GMA Network also reported on July 18, 2017—Nawawalang Grade 12 student natagpuang patay sa palaisdaan.

To ask "Ano ba hong nangyayari sa ating mga eskwelahan ngayon?" while pretending your own principal's term was entirely bloodless isn't just myopic—it’s a spectacular display of selective amnesia.

Harry also attempted a very delicate, elegant dance around the Juvenile Justice law. He noted that people are blaming the Pangilinan Law for raising the age of criminal responsibility, but coyly added: "Ayokong pumasok sa debateng yan kasi hayaan na natin ang siyensya na magsabi." (I don't want to enter that debate, let science decide).

How convenient. He doesn't want to talk about the "science" of the law, because if we look at the actual background of the Tacloban suspects, the data points in a very awkward direction. As one netizen bluntly pointed out:

"Ang suspek sa barilan sa Tacloban, iniidolo si Digong."

-The Podium (Tatay Digong and VP Sara): "I will cut off his head." "I bragged that I killed someone when I was 16." "Shoot them dead."

-The Classroom: A minor acquires an unsecured police-issued firearm, treats a school like a tactical zone, and acts out the exact language of violence normalized for a decade.

It takes a truly staggering amount of hypocrisy to act deeply shocked by a teenager pulling a trigger in a classroom when your entire political branding spent years applauding a man who proudly boasted from national stages about killing people as a teenager himself.

The netizens did not hold back, turning Harry's comment section into a brutal reality check.

While Harry was busy trying to frame the tragedy as a unique failure of the current calendar year, the public reminded him of the thousands who died during the War on Drugs—including children dismissed as mere collateral damage. Or when SHIT happens.

-The Definitive Diagnosis: Harry Roque isn't actually confused about what is happening to our schools. He knows exactly what happened. He is simply running the classic political playbook: like why he is into hiding now.

If a tragedy happens under his idol, it's an isolated incident or a failure of intelligence; if it happens under anyone else, it's a sign of a decaying society.

The public school system is indeed facing a profound crisis of safety, gun custody, and moral rot.

But we are certainly not going to find the solution from a man who looks at a history book, rips out the pages from 2016 to 2022, and pretends the current culture of impunity didn't have a very prominent, foul-mouthed architect.

Next time you want to ask what is wrong with the youth today, Harry, don't look at the current Department of Education calendar. Look at the language your camp spent six years teaching them.