COVID-19: Critical Analysis on Discourse of the Department of Health in the Early Phase of Pandemic in the Philippines

The paper contributed to the literature of COVID-19 in the Philippines by conducting an interdisciplinary study on the discourse of the Department of Health during the early phase of the pandemic in the country. The frame of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the process of Human Language Technology (HLT), and the concept of Crisis Management (CM) were used in analyzing the press conferences and virtual pressers. There were 56 videos selected from 30 January to 30 May 2020 using the technique of Browsing, Linking, Shortlisting, and Focusing (BLSF). The results of the study showed that: (1) Filipino language was the medium of messaging at the height of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ); (2) spectrogram images revealed a monotonic voice, which was criticized in social media; (3) theme of positivity was prevalent in describing the responses of government during a crisis; (4) discourse strategies like excessive usage of inclusive pronoun [natin], retracting the official statement, downplaying the significant COVID-related updates, and blaming the ordinary citizens were utilized to handle the deficiencies of government in managing the early phase of the pandemic. For further studies, the paper can be extended with a larger dataset.