With about 300 gigabits of capacity lost on segments linking the country to Singapore and Hong Kong, millions of Filipinos experience the rare and terrifying sensation of a buffering TikTok
The Day The Scroll Stood Still
MANILA. Internet users across parts of the Philippines experienced slow or intermittent connections on Friday, October 2, after an outage affecting submarine cable segments linking the country to Singapore and Hong Kong, according to GMA News’s report on the cable outage. Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda said about 300 gigabits of capacity were lost and that connectivity was not fully lost. The cause was still being determined. Sabotage was among the scenarios being investigated, he said, but it was too early to say.
For a country that consistently ranks among the most enthusiastic social media users on earth, the news was received with the calm and composure of a household discovering that the rice cooker has broken five minutes before dinner.
The Five Stages Of Buffering
Psychologists in Quezon City reported that citizens passed rapidly through the five stages of buffering. First came denial, as users refreshed Facebook seventeen times and blamed their phones. Then anger, directed at the telco, the router, the neighbour who might be streaming and, in several cases, the cat. Bargaining followed, with users moving around their homes holding phones toward the ceiling as if offering them to heaven. Depression set in when a single video took four minutes to load. Finally, acceptance, as millions of people looked up from their screens and discovered they had families.
A mother in Marikina said the outage had been a revelation. My teenage son spoke to me for twenty minutes, she said. Full sentences. Eye contact. He asked about my day. I did not know he could do that. I am now hoping the cable stays broken until Christmas.
The Work From Home Crisis
The Philippines is home to one of the world’s largest business process outsourcing industries, employing large numbers of workers who handle customer service calls, data and digital tasks for companies around the globe, many of them working remotely. For those workers, slow internet is not an inconvenience but a crisis. Call centre agents in Makati and Cebu reportedly spent the day apologizing to American customers for delays, which the customers, used to waiting on hold, barely noticed.
A freelance graphic designer in Pasig said she had handled the outage professionally. I told my client in Australia the files were uploading, she said. They were. Very slowly. Like one pixel at a time. By the time the logo arrived, the company had changed its name.
Schools Issue Advisories
According to GMA, some schools and institutions issued notices about possible connectivity problems. Students greeted the advisories with a mixture of relief and suspicion. Several reportedly attempted to submit late assignments with the explanation that the submarine cable had eaten their homework, a defence that teachers described as creative, plausible and absolutely not accepted.
The Sabotage Theory
The secretary’s mention of sabotage as one scenario under investigation, while stressing that it was too early to conclude anything, set off a wave of speculation online, which was itself slowed by the outage. Theories circulated at the speed of a dial-up modem, including suspicions about foreign powers, shark attacks, ship anchors and, from one particularly committed online forum, a disgruntled mermaid.
A retired fisherman in Batangas, consulted for his expertise in all things underwater, dismissed the more dramatic theories. In my experience, he said, when something under the sea breaks, it is usually an anchor, a fishing net or bad luck. But I do not know. I have never been to Singapore. Maybe the cable was tired.
Telcos Reassure
Providers including PADECO, Converge and the UP Diliman Network Help Desk issued advisories, while PLDT assured the department that it had enough spare capacity. Customers received the reassurances in the traditional Filipino way: by posting screenshots of their speed tests with crying emojis and tagging the telcos, which, given the slow internet, took most of the afternoon.
A Nation Rediscovers Offline Life
As the afternoon went on, signs of a nationwide offline renaissance appeared. Basketball courts filled up. Sari-sari stores reported a rise in conversations. Tita networks, normally conducted via group chat, reverted to their traditional form: standing at the gate and talking loudly about the neighbours. One barangay captain in Caloocan said community engagement had never been higher. People came to the barangay hall just to ask if anyone else had internet, he said. Then they stayed to chat. We should organize an outage every month.
The Serious Bit
Beneath the jokes lies a genuine issue. The Philippines, an archipelago heavily dependent on submarine cables for international connectivity, is vulnerable to disruptions that can affect business, education, government services and the livelihoods of millions of remote workers. Diversifying routes, building redundancy and protecting undersea infrastructure are serious priorities for a country whose economy increasingly runs online.
The Last Word
By the evening, services were gradually improving, and millions of Filipinos returned to their screens with the relief of travellers returning from a long journey. The mother in Marikina reported that her son had resumed scrolling within seconds of the connection returning. But for one afternoon, she said, I had my son back. I will always be grateful to the submarine cable, wherever it is, whoever broke it. Maybe the mermaid did us a favour.