A Manila-based restaurant has clarified that the individual pictured in a widely circulated photo wearing an orange shirt while dining with police officers is a staff member, not a detainee or a person deprived of liberty (PDL).
The image, which caught the attention of social media users, depicted a man in an orange shirt dining with police officers, sparking assumptions that the individual was an inmate due to the color of his attire. It was shared by a user on the X platform (formerly Twitter) accompanied by a comment which loosely translates to “Lunch out before being sentenced.”
Addressing the misunderstanding on Sunday, September 17, the restaurant, Tagpuan sa Pandacan, released a statement explaining that the man in the photo is “one of the helpful staff members and a dedicated Grade 12 HUMSS (Humanities and Social Sciences) student.” The individual is a working student, balancing his studies while serving at the restaurant.
Tagpuan sa Pandacan emphasized that they had recently introduced a new uniform for their staff which happens to be a plain orange shirt, similar to the one seen in the viral photo. In the statement, the establishment urged the public to refrain from posting negative comments, especially towards the police officers present in the image, who are regular customers at the restaurant.
To provide clarity and substantiate their statement, the restaurant shared additional photographs featuring other staff members dressed in the new uniform alongside the restaurant owner.
Following the restaurant’s clarification, the original poster on the X platform acknowledged the update, noting in a subsequent post that the “guy in orange is a staff member.”
This clarification comes as a significant detail because, in the Philippines, maximum security inmates are traditionally known to wear tangerine-colored shirts, which likely fueled the initial assumptions.
Tagpuan sa Pandacan is situated in the Bayan Central of the Pandacan district in Manila City. The locale, recognized for its lamp-ornamented terrace and Capiz windows, was previously an old Spanish-style house, which has since been transformed into a dining spot with the upper floor serving as the primary dining area.
The restaurant thanked the public for their understanding and expressed appreciation for finding joy in the “simple photo” which serves as a “reminder to approach life with a light heart despite all the problems and challenges we have today.”