Tacloban mayor hits ‘fictional’ Roxas comics

TACLOBAN CITY – Pure fiction. 

This was how Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez described the comic book depicting administration candidate Manuel Roxas II as a hero during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda in Eastern Visayas.    

“It’s not factual,” Romualdez said during a late night press conference with United National Alliance standard-bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay here on Wednesday.

Romualdez, who said he has not read the comic book, cautioned candidates against coming up with such stories that hurt the people in the region. 

“I do not want people in Eastern Visayas, especially in Tacloban, to repeat the whole experience again,” he added. 

Earlier this week, the comics titled Sa Gitna ng Unos and featuring Roxas, circulated online and was criticized by netizens. 

The comics depicted the supposed “real events” that happened during Yolanda, portraying Roxas and his heroic actions during and after the typhoon. 

Roxas, then the interior secretary, was in Tacloban City with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to monitor the events. 

The camp of the administration candidate said they did not approve of the content, but Roxas said it was accurate.

Shameful, incompetent

Binay criticized Roxas for the publication of the comics. 

“He was a hero? Oh my God!” Binay exclaimed during Wednesday night’s sortie here, referring to the contents of the comics.

“My God! How shameful it is!” he added. 

The Vice President slammed the government – particularly Roxas, whose agency was among those in the front lines of the response – for the slow response in the aftermath of the typhoon. 

“I think he was outstanding in his incompetence in trying to rehabilitate (after) Yolanda, the people of Tacloban,” Binay said added.

Don’t politicize

Romualdez urged politicians not to politicize and trivialize issues connected to Yolanda. 

“Many of the issues that are being raised are not being answered correctly. I am appealing for those who were not here during the Yolanda not to come up with such stories for the sake of having your candidate win,” he said.