Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the president of the Philippines, has recently been in the spotlight for using a presidential helicopter to attend a Coldplay concert in a location north of Manila. This decision has been met with criticism due to the area’s reputation for having severe traffic congestion.

Many on social media accused the president of wasting taxpayers’ money. They also pointed out that commuters have to endure Metro Manila’s infamous traffic daily.

According to the Presidential Security Group, a concert held at the Philippine Arena attracted an unexpectedly large crowd of 40,000 people. This resulted in unforeseen traffic complications along the route leading to the venue.

The traffic situation posed “a potential threat to the security of our president”, it said.

Activist Renato Reyes has criticized a recent decision, calling it “a grave insult to millions of Filipino commuters”. He further added that Metro Manila has been rated as having the worst traffic in a recent international survey. Reyes believes that the mass transport crisis has caused terrible traffic and nightmare commutes for ordinary people.

During Coldplay’s concert in Manila, Chris Martin joked about the traffic and expressed gratitude to the audience for attending.

“We’ve seen some traffic. But I think you have the number one [traffic] in the world. Thank you for making the effort to come through all of that bullshit to be here,” he said.

According to the 2023 TomTom Traffic Index, Metro Manila has been declared as the world’s slowest metro area among 387 cities across 55 countries. The average time taken to travel six miles (10km) in the capital region is 25 minutes and 30 seconds.

In a recent column for the Philippine Star, Ana Marie T Pamintuan highlighted the issue of horrendous traffic in the Philippine capital region. She mentioned that the traffic situation has become so bad that even the first couple had to resort to taking a helicopter.

The author suggests that this situation should prompt the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to acknowledge the extent of the traffic congestion problem in the region, which is considered to be among the worst in the world.

The recent incident has brought back memories for the older generation of the Philippines. As per Pamintuan’s writing, the late dictator Marcos Sr, ruled the country for two decades, and his family were infamous for their lavish lifestyle and were accused of stealing billions of dollars.

Coldplay’s Eco-Friendly Tour Meets Controversy Over Publicly Funded Travel in the Philippines

Some people have noticed that the mode of travel used by Marcos Jr. was different from Coldplay’s effort to make their shows environmentally friendly. 

Coldplay has made a commitment to use renewable energy to power their shows and prefers electric vehicles or alternative fuels wherever possible. This is a part of their efforts to reduce carbon footprint and minimize their impact on the environment.

“All the effort of Coldplay and their team in promoting sustainability while on tour, finding a way to make that work here in the Philippines, only for this asshole to fly in a chopper probably funded by… take a wild guess…,” wrote one user on X, suggesting it was publicly funded travel.

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