Netizens laud MMDA man ‘caught’ feeding street kids

STOLEN SHOT A motorist took this photo of a Good Samaritan in action on Commonwealth Avenue. SCREEN GRAB FROM TOPGEAR PHILIPPINES’ FACEBOOK PAGE

A traffic marshal of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has received thousands of commendations online after a quick-eyed motorist snapped a photo of him giving food to a street child in Quezon City.

The photo of Traffic Enforcer I Reynaldo Romano, who has been working for the MMDA for the last 12 years and is currently assigned on Commonwealth Avenue, has gone viral on Facebook after it was first posted March 12 on the page of car magazine Topgear Philippines.

ROMANO: “I thought I was in trouble.” Photo by MMDA

The post quoted motorist Mar Cheri Durante Galvez as saying: “Saw this scene at Tandang Sora U-Turn on Commonwealth. A traffic officer was giving food to a little child who was begging for alms. I just really think it’s worth sharing.”

Thousands of other netizens agreed and helped spread the heartwarming shot. As of the afternoon of March 14, the post on Topgear had received more than 31,000 “likes,” 3,817 “shares,” and around 1,200 comments in praise of Romano.

Since Romano was not identified in Galvez’s post, the MMDA Facebook team on Thursday sought him out for confirmation. The result was another photo of the man, this time on the MMDA’s FB page and showing him holding up a sign giving thanks to Galvez.

It included a narration from Romano in Filipino recalling how he met the little girl: She approached him to ask for food around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, saying she had not eaten since morning.

“So I told her to wait while I buy some food. I had extra money that day, so I bought noodles (pansit), rice and water. She said her sibling was also sick, so I called for her sibling too.” He ended up feeding both of them.

“I really pitied them because they were already weak [from hunger]),” Romano said in the post, which generated its own long list of likes and shares.

Reached on the phone Friday, Romano sounded amused by his instant cybercelebrity status and maintained he was unaware that someone else was watching as he was attending to the kids.

In fact, when he was summoned to    the MMDA office, “I thought I was in trouble. I asked if there was a case against me as I worried for my own my poor family.”

Romano lives in Rodriguez, Rizal province with his wife and their only child, in a housing project for the urban poor once known as “Erap City.” He has fathered four other children from a previous relationship.

He said he would often see the street child in his area on Commonwealth, but Wednesday’s encounter was the first time she approached him. “She looked so weak. I had P30 in my pocket, so I just bought some food and water.”

Romano actually gave food to the two siblings again on Thursday. “If we can be compassionate to grownups, what more to children?”

His superior, MMDA Traffic Discipline Office chief Francisco Manalo, said a recommendation was already being prepared Friday for MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino to give due recognition to Romano.