Mar to online bashers: Your comments are irrelevant

MANILA, Philippines - Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas hit back at netizens who bashed him over a viral photo showing him falling from a motorcycle in an area affected by Tropical Cyclone "Ruby."

Roxas, who is leading the national government frontline team in Eastern Samar that was battered by Ruby, explained why he decided to use a motorcycle while inspecting typhoon-hit areas in Taft, Eastern Samar.

"If it required walking, if it required motorcycle, whatever it required, I was simply doing my job which was getting to ground zero as quickly as possible," Roxas said in a phone-patch interview with ANC on Tuesday afternoon.

"All other comments are irrelevant and frankly, reflect more on the people making them," he added, referring to the attacks against him on social media.

Roxas' viral photo, which was posted Sunday night, received jeers from  netizens who believed that it was a mere political act from the administration's presumptive standard-bearer in the 2016 presidential elections.

Read: Viral: Mar falls off motorcycle in Samar

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte had appealed to the public not to put color to the incident.

Valte said Roxas deemed it best to ride the motorcycle since some roads in Eastern Samar were blocked by toppled trees and other debris.

Just last week, Roxas was also bashed online after a photo showing him riding the MRT was posted on the Facebook Page "Oras Na, Roxas Na." After it was revealed that it was taken by "Team Mar" and not a commuter, netizens commented that the photo was simply staged.

Recently, Men's magazine Esquire Philippines also received online flak for featuring Roxas for its November 2014 issue, which commemorated the first anniversary of Super Typhoon Yolanda.
 
The cover showed a tired, waving Roxas, who was seated on what appeared to be construction materials for the rehabilitation efforts at the Tacloban City port.
 
Netizens have slammed the magazine cover as "insulting" and "insensitive" while some noted the "sarcasm" in using Roxas' photo.

Meanwhile, Roxas' wife, broadcaster Korina Sanchez, also received jeers after commenting on live television that Ruby should hit Japan instead of the Philippines. She also went under fire in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda last year after criticizing CNN's Anderson Cooper for his reports on the government's relief efforts.