DENR admits some shortcomings in controlling crowd at Dolomite Beach
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) admitted some shortcomings after a crowd flocked to the Dolomite Beach last weekend.
In a virtual briefing on Tuesday, Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said the DENR with other government agencies were able to address the situation where thousands entered the newly-opened beach along the baywalk in the city of Manila.
"We cannot say that we do not have shortcomings. We lacked a little but were able to address the situation," he said,
Antiporda said following the report on the violation of social distancing in the beach authorities immediately implemented the "five minutes rule".
"What is the five minutes rule? Because the area is huge, it’s more than 1-hectare. We do not allow more than 400 people. Then, since the line outside the beach started to get long, we talked to the people to give chance to others every after five minutes. So the system was established until it closed by 6pm on Sunday," he said.
Following the incident, Antiporda said the members of the Inter-Agency Task Force agreed on Monday not to allow children 11 years old and below to enter the beach starting Tuesday.
Antiporda said they saw parents with their children last weekend which contributed to the thousands which went to the area. Now, the number lessened after the new rule was announced, he added.
"It is a big help because we observed that compared to yesterday the number of people is lesser because we no longer allow the entry of children," he said.
Antiporda said the Dolomite Beach will be closed during the observance of "Undas" from October 29 to November 3.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said children are allowed to go out for exercise and for essential service, like seeing their doctors whose office is in the malls.
The inability of officials to reduce crowds at the Dolomite Beach for the second straight weekend triggered criticism as this could become a super spreader event.
The National Capital Region has been under Alert Level Three from October 16 to October 31. Robina Asido/DMS
