Thanks to politicians, most of us have become cynical when it comes to public service. But the city government of Manila gives us more reasons to doubt them.
On Friday, July 21, former Philippine president and now Manila City Mayor Joseph Estrada led a “clean up drive” in Manila Bay, but instead of cleaning up, his team ended up bringing in more trash for the sake of publicity.
“We’ll bring back the glory of Manila Bay,” Estrada told the invited media.
Yes, they invited the media to witness this publicity stunt masquerading as a clean up drive.
He then boarded a boat with a few others and he started scooping up trash from the water. But according to the video below, several people from another boat dumped trash into the water as two men swam around to push the trash towards the Mayor’s boat so he could scoop it.
Back on dry land, the media asked Estrada if he knew what happened. Indeed, he does.
“For publicity, but we are serious in cleaning Manila Bay,” Estrada answered.
While it is unclear who instructed those people to throw trash for the Mayor’s publicity stunt, it is clear that a private hotel — not the city government — initiated the clean up project.
“This is spearheaded not by the city but by Rizal Park Hotel in cooperation with some government agencies such as the City of Manila… It will be done monthly,” Atty. Sol Arboladura, director of Manila Tourism, told ABS-CBN News.
Just another day in the circus.
Reader Interactions