‘Nutrition chief’ pokes fun at plunder rap gaffe

MANILA, Philippines – Scrambled eggs for scrambled brains.

This was the response of former interior secretary Manuel Roxas II after he was mistakenly referred to as the former secretary of the “Department of Nutrition and Local Government” in a plunder complaint filed against former administration officials before the Office of the Ombudsman.

On Twitter, Roxas posted an image of him cooking scrambled eggs.

“As alleged Sec of Nutrition, I recommend scrambled eggs para sa mga (for those with) scrambled brains,” he wrote.

The off-the-cuff response amused many of Roxas’ followers, although a number trolled the post of the former presidential hopeful.

“Pati pagkain dilaw (even the food is yellow),” one comment read, in reference to the political color of the Liberal Party, the former ruling party.

“Is that why (you are) making some for (yourself)?” another posted.

Supporters were quick to defend Roxas, with artist Leah Navarro saying, “Trolls really need good nutrition to battle ignorance.”

On Friday, Roxas, former president Benigno Aquino III and six other officials, including Sen. Leila De Lima who was mistakenly referred to as secretary of finance, were charged with plunder for supposedly violating a non-existent Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) circular.

Also charged were former finance secretary Cesar Purisima, Sen. Franklin Drilon Jr., BSP Governor Amado Tetangco Jr. and BSP treasury department financial operations chief Lorelie Fernandez.

The complaint was based on their alleged conspiracy to ship 3,500 metric tons of gold reserves worth $141.298 billion or P6.801 trillion from the BSP to a private company in Thailand. The complainants alleged that the gold bars were initially deposited at the Union Bank of Switzerland under the name “Ferdinand E. Marcos.”

Earlier, the BSP issued a statement saying the circular cited as evidence in the complaint was non-existent.

Aquino’s spokesperson Abigail Valte called the complaint absurd, noting that the details cited came from a fake news site.