Senator Sherwin Gatchalian took a firm stand on Monday that he would not apologize for cursing out netizens whom he accused of being “paid” and “designed to bring out the worst” in a public official.
“I don’t see the reason to delete it because again we’re talking to people who are organized and paid to attack you…We can engage one another in a healthy debate but when it’s a troll then I don’t see the reason of apologizing,” Gatchalian said in his interview in ANC Headstart.
“These are paid individuals, robots that are designed to destroy you and to bring out the worst in you. So why will I apologize to these people who are designed to bring out the worst in you,” he added.
The Senator on Monday replied with Filipino curse words to netizens who criticized his remark to an online article about the Liberal Party. It read, “The nation already lost its soul in the last 6 years.”
Netizens then tagged the senator as “balimbing (political turncoat)” and “trapo” or traditional politician as they recall that Gatchalian was a former local executive who used to support the Aquino administration.
Gatchalian also said that the internet was originally designed to come up with good ideas and good opinions but it’s now also meant to destroy people.
“This is really a sad part of social media and the free market of ideas and comments because this arena now became a weapon of mass destruction for public servants and against public officials,” Gatchalian said.
“This is the sad part because the internet is designed to come up with good ideas and good opinions but it’s also designed to ruin certain people,” he added.