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| Photo from Channel News Asia |
As President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Thursday night that a “community quarantine” of the National Capital Region (NCR), some of his critics were also quick to speculate that it is already Martial Law.
The President tasked the military and police to implement checkpoints in some boarders to contain the spread of COVID-19.
With the uniformed personnel on the streets, some people alleged that Duterte is declaring martial law, only masking it as implementation of community quarantine.
Meanwhile, Malacanang on Sunday defended the presence of military in checkpoints and stressed that government needs the “manpower” from the uniformed personnel.
“Paanong marital law. Meron na bang inaresto? ‘Pag marital law, maraming inaaresto, maraming kinukulong,” Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said
“Talagang kailangan natin ang militar kasi kailangan natin ng manpower. Hindi kaya ng mga baranggay ang pagpapatupad nito. Kailangan ng kooperasyon ng bawat ahensiya ng gobyerno,” he added.
Panelo also assured that there will be medical practitioners manning the checkpoint areas not only the uniformed personnel.
“Merong mga health workers kasama ‘yun. Nakita mo ba…merong mga kumukuha ng temperatura. May mga doctor na kasama dun saka mga nurse,” he said.
The community quarantine of the NCR will be implemented until April 14, this also includes the suspension of land, domestic air, and sea travel.
The Philippines as of this writing March 15, recorded 111 cases of COVID-19 and 8 confirmed deaths.
The Philippines is currently under a state of public health emergency due to the virus, which originated from Hubei, China.
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