LONG WAIT Stranded travelers aiming to return to their home provinces crowd Rizal Memorial Stadium on Sunday night. —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — Drawing sneers from netizens, the Philippine National Police on Sunday sent a music band to supposedly entertain the thousands of stranded people whom the government sheltered over the weekend at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, where they were made to undergo rapid testing for the coronavirus before being allowed to board buses taking them to the provinces.
Some of the comments on social media likened the PNP’s gesture to having the band on the Titanic play amid the chaos on deck as the ship slowly sank.
Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, the PNP spokesperson, defended the musical treat, saying the musicians were there to cheer up the so-called locally stranded individuals (LSIs) as they wait for their ride.
“As a big number of LSIs continue to cram… the stadium, all wanting to return to their home provinces through the government-sponsored transport program, our police had to think of ways to cheer the people up,” Banac said. “In such a big facility as a stadium, a musical band was deemed more suitable given the situation.”
‘Not really as crowded’
Social media photos of the crowd since Friday drew public criticism over the way authorities gathered the stranded travelers on the bleachers apparently without observing social distancing.
But according to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, health measures were still maintained at the sports venue.
“They (the travelers) brought along many of their belongings, that’s why the place looked crowded,” said Lorenzana, who also chairs the National Task Force against the New Coronavirus Disease.
“People who are actually there are saying that it’s not really as crowded as the photographs show. There are luggage and other belongings which made it appear that the space was tightly packed,” he added.
Lorenzana said Quirino Grandstand would have been a better assembly area for the stranded travelers but it was already being used by the Manila city government as a COVID-19 testing center.
—Jeannette I. Andrade