‘Magalong, the “contact tracing czar,” is now looking for the sick and superspreader Atayde who, by his actions, had deliberately challenged the mayor to prove that he, indeed, is a czar worthy of the name.’
IT is unlikely that Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, a former police official and the government’s contact tracing czar, has been outwitted and deceived by movie actor Arjo Atayde, but it happened, and so the whole movie industry is at risk at being put in a bad light, as if it isn’t already in a rut.
This is how it happened: Arjo Atayde, as actor-producer, requested permission to shoot a movie in Baguio City for two months, with his cast and crew of some 100 people. Magalong acceded to the request, thinking that the movie will promote the city and its tourism program.
Magalong said that the group was given permission to proceed with filming as long as they follow health and safety protocols. He said, however, that they did not maintain a “bubble” that was meant as a safety measure.
It was also found out that some of the members of the production team had been going in and out of Baguio City, bypassing the city’s triage center in some cases. This happened while the group was in lock-in shooting in Baguio and is supposed to be observing strict health protocols, including monthly tests that were not observed.
The result was that Atayde and nine of his companions in the movie production outfit were infected by the virus. The nine members of the film crew who tested positive for COVID-19 are now confined at an isolation facility of the city.
Magalong, the “contact tracing czar,” is now looking for the sick and superspreader Atayde who, by his actions, had deliberately challenged the mayor to prove that he, indeed, is a czar worthy of the name.
Magalong had been giving Atayde instructions on how to handle the situation through cellphone, not knowing that he would just leave without notice. When found, this actor Atayde should be meted out the harshest punishment that the law will allow.
As for Magalong, he should have assigned one city health inspector to see that health protocols were being observed by the group. And while we are at it, let us (including the government) stop calling them “czars.”
This reminds us of another actor in Hollywood — Tom Cruise, who recently berated crew members of “Mission Impossible 7” for a whole day because they violated simple health protocols while they were shooting, such as standing 6 feet of each other while viewing a monitor on set. While Atayde cannot approximate even one whit of Tom Cruise’s acting prowess, he should at least behave the same way in dealing with the virus.
