Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda asserted that she is ‘focused on disaster response’ instead of minding criticisms over her wearing a branded raincoat while inspecting a damaged dike in Lubao town.
She made known her priority after apologizing in a television interview on Monday night.
‘Kung nagkamali kami sa ganoong attire namin, sorry,’ the governor said, referring to herself and her son, Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda.
(If we made a mistake in wearing such attire, sorry.)
She said she respected her critics’ opinions, adding that their comments were a ‘wake-up call to me.’ She added that she and her son do not wear branded clothes every day.
On social media, several netizens accused the Pinedas of being insensitive to the poverty around them. Some comments were disrespectful and below the belt.
Supporters of Pineda, called by locals ‘Governor Nanay,’ took to social media to defend her, citing her programs on health, education, agriculture and job creation.
‘It is my mandate to focus now on disaster response. I cannot be distracted. I need to prioritize the delivery of services to 296 flooded villages in 19 local towns and the capital and 1.2 million people,’ the governor told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
The Pampanga Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported P1.3 billion in losses to crops, fisheries, machinery and facilities.
Paul Pangilinan Corpus, an educator who finished his degree under the Capitol’s scholarship program, posted his observation that ‘trolls were at work’ against the Pinedas because they had ‘almost uniform content,’ referring to a common pubmat (card) and captions. ‘Some showed to be valid remarks,’ Corpus said.
Reached by phone in San Simon, where a flood retention wall was breached, Vice Gov. Pineda declined to comment on the criticisms.
‘Nagseserbisyo po kami ni Governor Nanay sa mga Kapampangan. Sana yun po ang makita nila,’ he said.
(Governor Nanay and I are serving our fellow Kapampanga. I hope that’s what they see.)
Pampanga was the ‘hardest hit’ province by the monsoon rains and recent typhoons, according to Office of Civil Defense Administrator Undersecretary Harold Cabreros, who conducted an aerial inspection on Monday.