MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate on Thursday celebrated his birthday through an online “mañanita,” in an apparent jibe at the controversial birthday fete thrown by policemen to National Capital Region Police chief Major Gen. Debold Sinas.
A video obtained by reporters showed Zarate speaking inside a darkened room at the early hours of his birthday, saying that he was roused from sleep by some unusual sound outside his house.
“Magandang umaga mga kapamilya, mga kaibigan, mga kasama, medyo naalimpungatan ako at nagising ng wala sa oras dahil may narinig akong kumakaluskos sa labas,” Zarate said.
(Good morning to our friends, I was awakened because I heard a crackle outside.)
He then put on a face mask because he had to check out where the sound was coming from.
At this point, a group of people could be heard singing in the background, which Zarate deduced to be a “mañanita,” since it was still early in the morning, and it was his birthday.
“Aba, mga kumakanta ah. Parang may pa-mañanita ata ah… Aba may pamañanita nga! (Oh, someone’s singing! It looks like there’s a mañanita. Oh indeed, it’s a mañanita),” Zarate said.
The Makabayan solon then proceeded to reveal that the sound of people singing are coming, not from outside as he initially claimed, but from a Youtube video in his tablet.
He then reminded the public that public gatherings such as birthday parties are still prohibited under the enhanced community quarantine.
“Pero mga kaibigan, mga kasama, sabi nga nila, sinasabi nila ngayon, bawal muna ang party-party, kaya eto, sa Youtube na lang muna (But friends, they say partying is not allowed that’s why let’s resort to Youtube for now),” he said.
“Pwede namang magkaroon ng (online) mañanita, ano, wag na munang gayahin yung mga ginagawa ng mga kapulisan (We can have online mañanita, let’s not replicate what our police officials did),” he added, in an apparent allusion to the “mañanita” thrown for Sinas’ birthday last May 8 at the CRPO headquarters in Taguig City.
Sinas, as well as the other policemen who attended his birthday celebration, came under fire for allegedly circumventing quarantine rules on mass gathering, failure to observe physical distancing and use of face mask, and violation of the liquor ban, as shown in various photos that were uploaded no less by the NCRPO in its Facebook page.
There was also a photo of Sinas receiving flowers from his guests and blowing out candles from his birthday cakes.
Sinas has since apologized, but he argued that some photos of the occasion were either “old photos” or were “edited.”
Philippine National Police chief Gen. Archie Gamboa has ordered an investigation into the matter, although he had already made a pronouncement that at the outset, he saw nothing wrong with the holding of the “mañanita.”
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, on the other hand, claimed that while it “cannot be called a birthday party,” the gathering was “uncalled for.”
The National Bureau of Investigation, has mounted a parallel probe into the gathering for alleged violation of quarantine rules.