Photo of maskless Duterte gets online buzz but it was a throwback

February 26, 2021 - 6:23 PM
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Duterte in Jan 25 Speech
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte talks to the people after holding a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Arcadia Active Lifestyle Center in Matina, Davao City on January 25, 2021. (Presidential Photo/Toto Lozano)

President Rodrigo Duterte was thought to break minimum health protocols for COVID-19 when a picture of him appeared in an Antipolo restaurant’s Instagram account but it was not the case.

An Instagram Story of Vieux Chalet surfaced on local Reddit’s trending list Friday afternoon which featured the chief executive and his former aide-turned-lawmaker in a room full of people.

Everyone was not wearing the requisite face mask and there was no physical distancing observed.

While Duterte and the official were criticized in the comments, a Reddit user pointed out that it was a throwback photo shared by the Swiss restaurant.

“This is a throwback photo before the lockdown,” the online user wrote.

The dining establishment on its Instagram recently shared some pictures in its Stories section.

One of them was the picture of Duterte, which featured him holding a microphone.

The restaurant shared it two times in the Stories section. In its first sharing, the word “#throwback” was written on the upper part of the picture.

Duterte in Vieux Chalet
(Screengrab from Vieux Chalet Philippines via Instragram)

At the second time it was shared, it no longer had an indication that it was taken before the coronavirus pandemic struck.

Another photo of Duterte in Vieux Chalet
(Screengrab from Vieux Chalet Philippines via Instragram)

The Reddit user who pointed out that it was a throwback photo provided a link that showed a picture uploaded by the restaurant on Feb. 26, 2020.

It featured the same photo of Duterte with a microphone.

When the photo was uploaded, there were still no directives about the requisite wearing of face masks and physical distancing measures.

However, the country already had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 a month before that.