A television news crew was left injured after they were assaulted by angry citizens who were reported to have been guests at a Caloocan resort that made headlines for its violation of health protocols over the weekend. An estimated number of 150 to 200 individuals were said to have visited the resort during Mother’s Day and photos of guests swimming in the pool without observing social distancing went viral online.
Screengrab from a video posted by Arnel Tugade, the assaulted cameraman
TV5 crew then took videos of the hundreds of guests leaving the Gubat sa Ciudad resort in Bagumbong in compliance with management’s orders due to a sudden inspection to be led by Caloocan City officials and police. It was then that irate guests physically attacked a cameraman for allegedly “ruining their celebration.”
“Puro sa mukha yung puntirya nila… kaya biyak yung sa ilong ko, sa mata hanggang sa baba ng ilong (They kept hitting me in the face… that’s why my nose is broken and I have injuries around my eye down to my nose),” TV5 cameraman Arnel Tugade said in a DZRH interview on Monday, May 10.
“Paglabas nila, kami ang nabungaran nila doon na may media. Kaya siguro iniisip nila, dahil sa media kaya naudlot yung kanilang pagsaya doon… Actually lahat ng nag-swimming doon marami sila sinisigawan kami, ‘ayan may media pa kasi’ (As they all exited, they all saw us. Maybe that’s why they thought that it’s the media’s fault that their celebration was halted. Actually, everyone who went swimming there kept yelling at us, ‘It’s the media’s fault!’),” he added.
Arnel was immediately rushed to the hospital after the incident at 4 PM on Sunday. Two of the three suspects were arrested while one escaped. Caloocan Mayor Oca Malapitan immediately ordered the closure of Gubat sa Ciudad and will revoke its business permit. He has also asked the resort to provide its guest list for contact tracing.
(ALSO READ: Here are the Guidelines for ‘Stringent Social Distancing’ to Address Spread of COVID-19 in the PH)
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