Du30 And His Huge Embarrassment Of Riches
Is Du30’s record now richer with millions more of drug users listed?
Yes, and No. About PH President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s War On Drugs, this time the war has the wrong numbers! (Bad Data[1] image from Amazon.com)
Sofia Tomacruz of Rappler.comhas a story of data that are crazy the very first time you read them, as they don’t add up and the explanation given is quite another public embarrassment!
Citing what he said were government figures, (President Rodrigo) Duterte said in a recorded address, “I’d like to report to you that according to the…DDB, Dangerous Drugs Board, there are about 167 million or two out of 100 people, Filipinos aged 10 to 69, (who) are current users of drugs.”
The number of Filipino drug users has reached 167 million!
Archipelagic mistake, because there are only a little more than 100 million Filipinos as of July 2020. If 167 million were correct, it would mean every Filipino is a drug user, plus 67 million foreigners in this country who are also all into drugs!
Today Tuesday, 20 October, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque clarified that Duterte’s statement had been the result of a typographical error. “Typo lang po ‘yun (It was just a typo, Sir/Madam). It should be 1.67 million,” Roque said during a virtual address.
1.67 million had multiplied itself 100 times!
Whose fault was it? The writer’s error, because he did not check the facts. The copyreader’s fault, because he failed to spot the mistake. The TV broadcaster’s mistake, because he did not countercheck what he received for broadcasting. That was Malacañang’s blunder, because they did not watch first to be sure.
That pass-it-on faux pas is unforgivable! This is a much embarrassed world-class blogger and Editor In Chief speaking, Filipino.
The Dangerous Drugs Board is dangerous with figures, capable of magnifying them 100 times! Or are the DDB staff Lazy Juans or Juanas, too indolent to check their facts?
What now should Du30 do about the matter that embarrassed him without measure?
One: Du30 would fire the errant DDB staff who provided the wrong numbers – s/he was careless for her/his President!
Two: Du30 would from now on require that people check beforehand what he is about to broadcast to the Filipino people, especially when big data is involved. This one made all of us Filipino citizens drug users without our knowledge and consent!
Three: Du30 would make sure that charts and/or graphs are prepared and their data compared against each other to prevent another embarrassing broadcast or announcement.
Four: DDB would form an extra-careful communications team if only to serve the media meetings of Du30 concerning or not the War on Drugs.
Five: Why not a communications person to always check any Du30’s scheduled media release, being WFH?
Having said that, let me tell you how I incorrigible writer avoid such inaccuracies as wrong number cited: Without exception, carefully I read my drafts each at least 5 times a day at different times, so I can catch myself making a mistake like multiplying my data 100 times!@517
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