Mayor Rex Gatchalian had to clarify things after netizens mistook Valenzuela City for the country Venezuela, where a mass gathering was reportedly allowed despite a nationwide quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABS-CBN News recently posted photos from the news wire agency Reuters of the procession of Nazarene of St. Paul in Venezuela, a country situated on the northern coast of South America.
In the comments section, some netizens mistakenly called out Valenzuela City Mayor Gatchalian and put the blame on him for allowing the mass event to happen while the enhanced community quarantine is being imposed in Luzon.
The government earlier banned mass gatherings in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease in the country.
After receiving complaints from the said report, Mayor Gatchalian took to his social media to shed light on the issue, saying that he governs Valenzuela City not Venezuela.
“So ang daming nagagalit sa akin dahil dito. Hindi ko alam na ako na din pala ang pinuno ng bansa na Venezuela,” he said.
“Mga sirs and ma’ams, Mayor po ako ng dakilang lungsod ng Valenzuela. Hindi po ng bansa na Venezuela…,” he added.
In another Facebook post, the local chief executive shared a screenshot of him and Venezuela, a trending topic on Twitter.
“Trending for the wrong reason, wrong location. ☺️,” he wrote.
Valenzuela also landed a spot among Twitter’s trending topics. To cap it off, Valenzuela dropped a Bobby Salazar-line meme.
