{"id":269433,"date":"2020-09-22T00:25:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T04:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=269433"},"modified":"2020-09-22T00:25:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T04:25:51","slug":"palace-wants-strict-physical-distancing-at-manila-bay-shoreline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/22\/palace-wants-strict-physical-distancing-at-manila-bay-shoreline\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace wants \u2018strict\u2019 physical distancing at Manila Bay shoreline"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The Manila Bay\u2019s artificial white sand beach was temporarily opened to the public on Saturday and Sunday. (PNA photo by Avito Dalan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday reminded law enforcement authorities to strictly enforce physical distancing rules on visitors to the \u201cwhite sand beach\u201d in Manila Bay.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this reminder after photos and videos showing people standing close to each other along Roxas Boulevard circulated on social media.<\/p>\n

The Manila Bay\u2019s artificial white sand beach was temporarily opened to the public on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaya nga po nananawagan din po kami sa kapulisan na sana po ay ipatupad natin ang<\/em>\u00a0social distancing (That\u2019s why we are also calling on our police force to implement social distancing),\u201d he said in a virtual presser.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday, Philippine National Police (PNP) Joint Task Force Covid Shield Commander, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, said Ermita police station commander Lt. Col. Ariel Caramoan was relieved from his post over his failure to enforce physical distancing rules on visitors to the white sand beach.<\/p>\n

He said Caramoan could have prevented the quarantine protocol violations at the Manila Bay if there were prior planning and regular monitoring of the situation in the area.<\/p>\n

Take turns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roque also appealed to the public to observe physical distancing as a safety precaution against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).<\/p>\n

\u201cAng panawagan lang namin sa taumbayan,<\/em>\u00a0the surest way\u00a0po para kayo ay magkaroon ng<\/em>\u00a0Covid,\u00a0huwag kayong mag<\/em>-social distancing (Our appeal to the public, the surest way to contract Covid is to not observe social distancing),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, assured visitors that they will eventually have their chance to see the Manila Bay makeover as long as they took turns.<\/p>\n

Since the white sand beach is around 7,000 square meters, he said it can accommodate 50 people at one time.<\/p>\n

He said each group visitors should have at least five minutes to see the white sand beach and take photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung pupuwede po<\/em>\u00a0five minutes per group\u00a0lang diyan, sapat na po iyan para singhutin ang hangin at saka mag<\/em>-picture-picture,\u00a0mag<\/em>-selfie-selfie (if possible, each group can spend five minutes there, that\u2019s enough time to get air and take pictures, selfies),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Right decision\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Roque, the crowd of visitors which flocked to the segment of Manila Bay’s shoreline showed that the decision of the government to cover it with artificial sand was a \u201cgood decision\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalagang iyan naman po ay nagpapatunay na tama ang naging desisyon ng<\/em>\u00a0(Department of Environment and Natural Resources)\u00a0at ng siyudad ng Maynila na lalo pang pagandahin ang<\/em>\u00a0Manila Bay (That really proves that the decision of the DENR and the City of Manila to beautify Manila Bay is a good decision),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers and environmental groups earlier criticized the Manila Bay\u2019s beach nourishment using crushed dolomite for allegedly violating several laws.<\/p>\n

Malaca\u00f1ang said the project will prevent soil erosion and flooding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday reminded law enforcement authorities to strictly enforce physical distancing rules on visitors to the \u201cwhite sand …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":269396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269438,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269433\/revisions\/269438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}