Galvez is under Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who heads the national task force against COVID-19. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, also a former top soldier, is vice chairman.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 2) — Martial law declaration in the Philippines is not being discussed now, the Inter-Agency for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said Thursday.
“Hindi natin pinag-u-usapan ang martial law. Hindi yan pinaguusapan ngayon,” task force spokesperson Karlo Nograles said during a televised briefing after being asked if continued “lawlessness” could push the government to place the county under military rule.
[Translation: We are not discussing martial law. We are not talking about that right now.]
Nograles was made to react to President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive for law enforcers to “shoot” to death violators of the enhanced community quarantine.
The quarantine requires most people, except those rendering vital services, to stay at home, in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19. The restrictions are in effect until April 13.
Duterte’s statement came hours after some residents in Quezon City took to the streets on Wednesday to demand the government for food and aid, which they said they had yet to receive at that time. As a result, at least 21 of them were arrested by city police.
Nograles said that what Duterte’s directive implies is that during a crisis and state of calamity, “there has to be order.”
“Importante po kay Pangulo (It is important to the President) that we maintain order especially in this time of crisis and state of calamity,” Nograles said.
The official promised that the government will not let anyone create trouble and “take advantage” of the country’s current public health problem.
He also appealed to the public not to “complicate things by making it a peace and order problem.”
“It is hard and difficult as it is. Anything else, please stop. We ask for the cooperation of everyone,” he said.
Duterte has preferred appointing former military men to the government, and the country’s battle against the coronavirus disease outbreak is no exception.
He recently named Presidential Peace Adviser Carlito Galvez, Jr., a former Armed Forces chief as leader of the implementing arm of the IATF, which is the policy-making body for COVID-19 response.
It has been almost 50 years since late dictator Ferdinand Marcos put the Philippines under military control.
Around 70,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 tortured, more than 3,000 killed, and hundreds disappeared, according to a data from international human rights group Amnesty International.
