Catholic charity group calls Roxas’s comic book ‘shameful, unacceptable propaganda’

MANILA, Philippines – A Catholic charity group on Tuesday hit presidential candidate Mar Roxas’s comic book portraying the Liberal Party’s (LP's) standard bearer a hero during the height of typhoon "Yolanda."

Caritas Philippines Executive Secretary Edu Gariguez, a priest, called Roxas’s comic book “hypocritical" and the campaign material a “shameful and unacceptable propaganda.” 

"In conscience, I need to belie this hypocritical claim of Mar Roxas claiming to be a hero in the emergency response,” Gariguez said.

“We need to bring truth and decency in our electoral process. A call that I dare to make to all candidates,” the priest added.

Director of Lipa Archdiocesan Social Action Center and priest Jazz Siapco also shared the same sentiments as Gariguez, criticizing the comic book by describing it as “misleading” to advance Roxas’s political agenda.

“He is not a hero. I would consider those who have helped silently in their own little ways the heroes. They are the real heroes,” Siapco said. 

Last Saturday, during an LP sortie in Cavite, the 28-page comic book titled “Sa Gitna ng Unos” (In the Middle of the Storm) was distributed. The comics depicted Roxas as an action man risking his life to help the typhoon victims. The comic book said that it is based on true events.

Roxas’s comic book earned negative reactions and was dismissed by critics as an attempt to twist the real happenings during typhoon Yolanda.

Gariguez last August said the government's failure and shortcomings from after the typhoon to the rebuilding stage of Yolanda-hit areas may affect the image of Roxas and his presidential bid.

Meanwhile, Roxas thanked his supporters behind the production and distribution of the comics.

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