Duterte set to visit troops in conflict area – Palace

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to resume his military camp visits after staying inside Malacañang and in Davao City for months due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)  pandemic.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malacañang on June 22, 2020. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte is set to visit the troops in an area with “intensified fighting”.

Roque said this after the President, in a taped speech aired Monday night, said that he himself hates the coronavirus lockdown and would like to go around the country to visit military camps in the coming days.

“I’m hoping the President can actually do it but PSG (Presidential Security Group) is rather strict as far as his movement is concerned because as you know he is a senior citizen and is part of the vulnerable population for this disease. But I think the President will insist to visit his troops,” Roque said in an interview over CNN Philippines’ The Source.

“He (Duterte) has a scheduled visit. I don’t think I’m at liberty to say exactly where he’s going but let’s just say it’s an area where there has been intensified fighting recently and quite a number of soldiers have been killed and wounded in action,” he added.

The Palace official said that health precautions will definitely be observed when Duterte resumes his camp visits—a staple in his schedule prior to the pandemic.

“There will be precautions taken, he will just address the troops from a distance unlike in the past where he freely mingles with them. And I think this will be the compromise,” Roque said.

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