Manila’s notoriously bad traffic is so bad that, at a Coldplay concert north of the Philippines’ capital city on Friday night, singer Chris Martin performed a song about it.
One person who was able to beat the rush to reach the Philippine Arena in Bulacan for the show was President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who decided to travel by helicopter. Pictures showing Marcos, his wife, and others arriving in the chopper sparked an angry backlash online from Filipinos who accused the president of wasting government resources on an evening out.
“Yesterday, the Philippine Arena experienced an unprecedented influx of 40,000 individuals eagerly attending a concert, resulting in unforeseen traffic complications along the route,” Maj. Gen. Nelson Morales, the head of Marcos’ Presidential Security Group (PSG), said in a statement Saturday, according to the official Philippine News Agency. “Recognizing that this traffic situation posed a potential threat to the security of our President, the PSG took decisive action by opting for the presidential chopper,” he added.
Morales also added that he hoped there would be public “understanding and support for these measures” as they are “crucial in maintaining the safety and well-being of our nation’s leadership.”
There was not.
“Attending a concert shouldn’t be considered a matter of national interest,” one social media user commented. “If security is the primary concern, the president should have prioritized staying at home over using government resources for entertainment.” Others complained about the helicopter ride in the context of a perceived lack of action about improving traffic conditions in Manila. “[W]e’ve been SO LOUD and SO TIRED about the transportation issues in the philippines but these people wont care because they ride helicopters using OUR tax money,” one person wrote on X.
“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,” Ana Marie Pamintuan added in The Philippine Star.
Manila’s metro area traffic was ranked as the slowest in a survey of 387 cities in 55 countries, with the 2023 TomTom Traffic Index finding that it takes an average of 25 minutes and 30 seconds to travel just 6 miles.
The glacial traffic didn’t escape the attention of Coldplay singer Martin, who thanked the crowd for coming despite the conditions on the road. “We’ve seen some traffic, but I think you have the number one in the world. So thank you for making the effort to come through all of that bullshit to be here,” Martin said. Marcos was seen on video laughing and covering his face as Martin addressed the situation, according to The Manila Times.
Martin was seemingly so inspired by the nightmarish traffic that he even wrote a song about it for the show. “If you wanna drive somewhere then I’m warning you / A two-mile drive will take a week or two,” he sang, to laughter and cheers.
The British singer may find Marcos’ solution for beating the traffic less amusing, however.
According to Coldplay’s website, the band are hoping to make their ongoing “Music of the Spheres” tour “as environmentally beneficial as possible,” with the goal of cutting the shows’ direct carbon emissions by 50 percent when compared with their previous stadium tour. The shows themselves are being powered by an electric battery system using renewable energy, the band says, while electrical vehicles are used where possible and plastic usage is kept to a minimum.
