Guanzon draws flak over Rockwell outburst

Several netizens expressed outrage over what they described as a “meltdown” by former Commission on Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, who was seen shouting at and humiliating a couple after they confronted her for not covering her mouth while coughing inside Rockwell Powerplant Mall in Makati City on Saturday.

The widely circulated video, which has already racked up millions of views, shows an irate Guanzon shouting, pointing fingers, and cursing a couple over what she called the “injustice” they inflicted on her.

“If you are sick, you two should go home! Why are you here if you are sick? Who is this? Is this your husband (asking the Chinese-looking man)? He is stupid, an ignoramus. Put….$#^*. Hindi ka nga naka-Rolex, naka Gucci. Ako pa pinili mo? What’s your name?” Guanzon said.

She also accused the couple of being "matapobre" (elitist).

Meanwhile, the woman was seen calmly explaining their side to Guanzon, while the man, appearing of Chinese descent, simply stared at the former Comelec official in stunned silence.

“Ako pa ang pinili mo? No, I want your name, get his name,” she further shouted, pointing fingers at the Chinese-looking man.

Regardless of what happened, Guanzon, a former government official and a public figure, should have handled the situation well, University of Santo Tomas Political Science Department chair Dennis Coronacion said. “Her outburst in front of so many people is uncalled for,” he stressed.

Netizens quickly took to Meta (Facebook), X (Twitter), and Instagram to react to the video, calling Guanzon’s behavior rude and unbecoming of a former public official.

“Rowena Guanzon was not merely a nuisance; she is a deeper rot eating away at our public life. Let this vile episode serve as a public reckoning. The grotesque arrogance and feral lack of civility displayed by someone calling herself Rowena Guanzon must never be dismissed as “normal behavior.” It is not normal. It is not acceptable. It is the theatrical swagger of entitlement stripped naked of class, reason, and restraint,” X user ‘Vincents’ said.

“The obscene display of impertinence and verbal sewerage spewed by Rowena Guanzon, inside a privately-owned mall no less, is not just an embarrassment; it is actionable. It is a textbook case for public scandal and civil liability. The victims and the mall’s administrators would be well within their rights to drag this behavior into the cold light of the courts and demand accountability in pesos, not just in outrage,” he added.

In a separate video on Sunday, Guanzon said she is okay but suffered high blood pressure Saturday night, and maintained that injustice shall not pass, especially to her.

“You can’t just let it slide when you’re being humiliated. Can you imagine, at Rockwell Mall, they told me that if you’re coughing, you should leave the mall and stay at home? That’s where it started. I wouldn’t even get angry if the injustice wasn’t so extreme. Even PBBM, right? I stood at the Cathedral and gave a speech almost without pause, really throwing punches,” she said in Filipino.

“I defend others when they’re treated like that — so how much more myself? I know a lot of people at Rockwell Mall; they know me, and I know them. I was really humiliated by what that person did. Can you believe she told me, ‘Don’t you have money to buy a mask?’” she recounted, adding that she actually filed a case for unjust vexation and grave oral defamation on Saturday night.