Overwhelmed by crowd, Sinas defends cops in failure to enforce distancing in Manila Bay

Throngs of people have gathered along Roxas Boulevard on Sunday, Sept.20, for a chance to view the Manila bay white sand that has been opened to the public this weekend from 6am to 6pm. Marianne Bermudez/Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines — Even the Manila cops who were initially deployed to enforce physical distancing among visitors of the newly-inaugurated Manila Bay “white sand” were “overwhelmed” by the throng of spectators that greeted them there on Sunday.

This was how National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Major Gen. Debold Sinas explained why physical distancing appeared to not have been properly implemented when organizers from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) invited the public to witness the controversial fake white sand made of dolomite dust.

The resulting overcrowding painted a stark picture against the government’s efforts to bring down coronavirus cases in the country.

“In-announce ng DENR na open to the public yon, 6 ng umaga hanggang 6 ng gabi, tapos parang hindi inopen yung buong area. Meron lang a certain portion. Hindi akalain ng mga organizers na talagang bumuhos ang tao,” he said in an interview over dzRH.

Following a public backlash, Ermita police station commander Lt. Col. Ariel Caramoan was relieved from his post for supposedly failing to manage the crowd.

“Sabi ng hepe (Caramoan) natin doon, nagpadala siya ng tao around 30 people to act on that. They were overwhelmed. Hindi nila akalain na talagang dumagsa yung tao,” Sinas said.

(He deployed around 30 people to act on that. They were overwhelmed. They did not expect that people would crowd Manila Bay.)

“Overwhelmed yung unang pinadala na 30 katao. Nung nalaman, nag-reinforce na agad si MPD [Manila Police District] at by 9 o’clock na-arrange naman,” he added.

(The 30 police who were deployed got overwhelmed so MPD reinforced more people and by 9 a.m., the crowd was properly arranged.)

Despite being relieved by the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan himself, Sinas said an investigation will be conducted to look into the accountability of Caramoan.

“Siguro hindi napag-explain kaagad si station commander so he was relieved. Sabi namin, we just followed the instruction of chief PNP. Nonetheless, we will conduct an investigation on what really happened doon based sa statement ng station commander natin,” Sinas said.

(Maybe the station commander was not able to explain himself so he was relieved. We told him we just followed the instruction of the chief PNP. Nonetheless, we will conduct an investigation on what really happened based on our station commander’s statement.)

Despite relieving Caramoan, Cascolan said the police are not solely blamed for the Manila Bay crowd but also the public themselves.

A portion of Manila Bay, which recently underwent a “white sand” makeover, drew crowd over the weekend after it was opened to the pubic from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Photos circulated on social media showed a massive crowd along Roxas Boulevard standing close to each other despite the physical distancing rule to prevent virus transmission amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

EDV