Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzales has condemned the person who recorded the now viral video showing a WASA worker asleep behind the wheel of a marked company vehicle in traffic, saying they should have at least checked to see if they were ok first.
In a Facebook post the minister lamented the person never tried to find out whether the worker was experiencing a medical emergency or was simply exhausted from an overnight shift. Instead, he said, they chose to “score cheap points, rile up the public against the worker and the Authority or just engage in pure mischief.”
“The facts are different from what was attempted,” Gonzales said. He also expressed relief that “the worker is safe with his family” and that “it was not a fatal accident.”
The Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) launched an investigation yesterday, calling the matter serious. “We take this matter seriously and have initiated a thorough investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident,” WASA said in a statement. While acknowledging that many employees work demanding shifts, WASA reaffirmed its commitment to safety and professionalism, adding that any behaviour violating its protocols will be “addressed promptly and appropriately.”
The video, which does not specify a location, shows a man filming a WASA van parked in the road with the engine running. It ends before revealing whether the driver was awoken.
For Gonzales, the video represents a larger issue. He called for “more responsibility” and “compassion in everything we do,” arguing that social media attention should not take precedence over civic duty. “Desperately looking for attention on social media and abandoning our human or civic responsibility is not who we are or what we stand for as a nation,” he said. “It cannot be on how much ‘likes’ ‘views’ or ‘shares’ we receive on social media.” He urged citizens to remember the values in the National Anthem and National Pledge as they work toward building a better country.
