Philippines Reacts with Hot Take as Prez Marcos Jr Uses Chopper to Attend Coldplay Concert

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr received flak on social media for his use of a presidential helicopter to attend a concert by British rock band Coldplay in a province north of the capital, Manila.

The Philippine Arena, the world’s largest indoor arena, saw an influx of 40,000 concert-goers resulting in “unforeseen traffic complications along the route,” the Presidential Security Group said in a statement.

The traffic situation posed a security threat to Marcos who attended the Friday night concert with his wife, prompting the use of the presidential chopper, it added. However, social media users slammed the use of taxpayer money by Marcos, the son and namesake of the late strongman president whose rule ended nearly four decades ago in a historic “people power” revolution.

‘We paid for fuel’

“Using official resources, like the presidential chopper, for personal and non-official activities is generally considered an abuse of power or misuse of government resources,” Facebook user James Patrick Aristorenas said in a post on Saturday. “We paid for the use of the chopper, fuel and security, who knows even for the tickets for everyone,” Facebook user Arvine Concepcion said.

Underlining that Metro Manila has been ranked as having the worst traffic in a recent international survey, activist Renato Reyes described the decision by Marcos as “a grave insult to millions of Filipino commuters.” “We are faced with a debilitating mass transport crisis that has caused terrible traffic and nightmare commutes for ordinary folks,” he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

‘We’ve seen traffic’

Writing for the Philippine Star, columnist Ana Marie T Pamintuan said: “Perhaps the horrendous traffic that forced the first couple to take a helicopter will end the state of denial in the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority about the Philippine capital region having the worst traffic congestion among ‘metros’ in the world.”

Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin also remarked on the Philippine traffic, thanking fans for braving it to see the band live. “We’ve seen some traffic. But I think you have the number one [traffic] in the world. Thank you for making the effort…to be here,” he said.

(With agency inputs)