THE Philippine Air Force (PAF) admitted on Sunday that it has ordered its personnel to prepare for an “extensive community quarantine” where the military is expected to take the lead role in its implementation, a scenario earlier raised by President Duterte.
The directive to Air Force personnel was contained in an internal memorandum order, a copy of which, it appeared, had been leaked to the public.
“It is an internal Memo for the PAF personnel. The PAF is just anticipating any scenarios in case the President as Commander in Chief of the AFP would decide to implement his statements lately to the public as earlier stated and prepare our troops in advance,” said Air Force spokesman Major Aristides Galang in explaining the matter.
“We are just preparing our personnel to be ready,” he added.
Duterte warned earlier that he would not hesitate to impose a martial rule-like lockdown with soldiers in the front if people keep on violating the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
The implementation of the ECQ in Luzon is being supervised by a joint task force headed by Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar. It mandates residents to stay inside their homes in order to cut the virus’s transmission, with only one person per household allowed to go out at a time to buy food, medicine and other essential supplies. That person must at all times carry a quarantine pass.
120,000 violators
However, as the Philippine National Police reported, at least 120, 000 people have been arrested for violating the quarantine, which was adopted to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic that as of Sunday had infected 6,259 Filipinos, with 409 deaths and 572 recoveries.
The violations piqued Duterte, warning he will not hesitate to impose a total lockdown with the help of the military.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said that while there had been no order yet for the martial-rule like quarantinte, “it is incumbent and customary on the part of the leadership of the Philippine Air Force, and the AFP under General Felimon Santos Jr., for that matter, to exercise its initiative of alerting and preparing” the soldiers for the task.
“Again, the context is: the President has already told that the AFP should prepare for deployment with the PNP in case people will continue to defy the protocols and disobey the rules,” Arevalo said.
“Even before the announcement, local chief executives of the cities of Quezon, Pasay, Parañaque, and Mandaluyong, and the municipality of Pateros have sought the assistance of the AFP in the enforcement of regulations. Almost all barangays in the NCR were actually seeking the assistance of the military and the police which shows the magnitude of the problem,” he added.
Arevalo said that Filipinos should not be alarmed with the “natural reaction” of the military to prepare and deploy when it becomes necessary.
“What we should all be alarmed about instead is the fact that a lot of people are blatantly violating the law and disobeying the rules and health protocols which must be strictly enforced—otherwise people die,” he said.
“Law-abiding citizens and those who follow the rules should not worry. There is no reason to be alarmed,” he added.