The new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is  the country’s foremost enemy while the University of the Philippines (UP) is like a “ringside commentator” amid the public health emergency, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Wednesday after drawing a stinging rebuke over his congratulatory remark for beating UP's coronavirus forecast.

Roque defended himself from criticisms, arguing that some people were a little slow on the uptake when he merely welcomed the country managing to stay below the UP prediction of 40,000 coronavirus cases by the end of June. 

The country ended the month with 37,514 confirmed cases of infections based on the Department of Health (DOH) records, which was below the UP forecast. Roque congratulated the nation over the achievement and urged the people to help keep the cases low in the coming months.

"Medyo slow sila to gets. Hindi po talaga UP ang kalaban. Ako po ay buong buhay ko sa UP nag-aral at labinlimang taon po akong nagturo ng full-time diyan sa UP. Hindi po UP ang kaaway; ang kaaway po natin ay COVID-19. Kaya nga lang po ginagamit po ng UP ang mathematical models para mag-forecast kung ilan sa atin ang magkakaroon ng COVID-19  (They are slightly slow in getting it. UP is not really the enemy. All my life, I studied in UP and taught in UP full-time for 15 years. UP is not the enemy. Our enemy is COVID-19. But UP used mathematical models to forecast how many may get infected with COVID-19)," Roque said over "Unang Hirit" television program.

He insisted that the people should be encouraged to beat forecasts of high numbers of infections and should be congratulated whenever these are not met.

In a separate interview over CNN Philippines, Roque admitted that beating the UP forecast is a "small victory" especially since the researchers have been previously accurate about its prediction on coronavirus cases. He described UP as a “ringside commentator” that gives forecasts on coronavirus cases.

"I think it is the first time we did not realize the forecast of UP. They have been perfectly accurate in their forecasting of how many cases we would have at the end of the month," he said. “As far as I know, this is the first time that we missed it not by much but we still missed it,” he said.

On the UP team's latest prediction of 60,000 cases by the end of July, Roque rallied the nation not to allow this to happen by staying indoors as much as possible and by following other health protocols.

He maintained that the nation is "not powerless" to win the war against the coronavirus outbreak, renewing his appeal to observe health precautions such as the wearing of face masks and safe distancing.