MANILA, Philippines – “Just Always Pray And Newsread (na lang).” That was Joey de Leon’s tweet on Tuesday morning, almost a week after newscaster Korina Sanchez gave her infamous statement about Japan and Typhoon “Ruby.”
JAPAN now is not just “Just Always Pray At Night”. Dapat din daw ay “Just Always Pray And Newsread!”
— Joey de Leon (@AngPoetNyo) December 9, 2014
On Monday, the comedian, who goes by the Twitter handle @AngPoetNyo, posted, “Dun sa mga umaasa na lumihis ang bagyo at dumiretso na lang sa Japan eh WAG NAMAN. Pwede namang HUMINA na lang katulad ng utak nung umasa!” (To those who are hoping that the storm shifts and heads to Japan , let’s not hope for that. Afterall, it can still weaken, like the minds of those who wished for that.)
Dun sa mga umaasa na lumihis ang bagyo at dumiretso na lang sa Japan eh WAG NAMAN. Pwede namang HUMINA na lang katulad ng utak nung umasa!
— Joey de Leon (@AngPoetNyo) December 8, 2014
The tweet has since been retweeted and marked as favorite by more than 5,500 users.
Many netizens believe De Leon was referring to Sanchez who said, during the December 3 newscast of TV Patrol, “Puwede bang sa kanila (Japan) na lang lahat?” as she referred to the typhoon.
Sanchez jokingly insisted that strong typhoons like Ruby, which was later downgraded to tropical depression, should head towards Japan instead.
Amid being subtly contradicted by her co-anchor former Vice President Noli de Castro, Sanchez said, “Sa kanila na lang lahat. Parang mas kaya nila (Let them have it all. It seems they are more capable.”
It is not the first time that Sanchez received flak for her statements on air, especially when it comes to typhoon-related news.
Last year, during the aftermath of Super Typhoon “Yolanda,” Sanchez earned the ire of netizens after she accused CNN anchor Anderson Cooper of not knowing what he is talking about.
Cooper was then covering the relief efforts in Tacloban.
Sanchez, the wife of Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, said Cooper did not know what he was talking about when he pointed out that the government was not doing enough for the survivors.
But Cooper responded and said Sanchez should go to the affected areas and see for herself what has been happening.
“Ms Sanchez is welcome to go there and I would urge her to go there. I don’t know if she has but her husband’s the Interior minister. I’m sure he can arrange a flight,” he said.
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