Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines – Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin got a dressing down from Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce-Enrile on Wednesday for not taking the lead in securing the safety of the people affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”
“It’s the matter of Defense Department that he’s in charge of every disaster in this country,” Enrile said when he was interpellating on the floor the proposed budget of the Department of National Defense.
“Why is the Defense Secretary relegated to a support position when he is supposed to be in command?”
Enrile specifically pointed the lack of communications and military presence in the areas severely affected by the typhoon.
“Don’t you have a separate communication backbone for the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines)?” he asked.
“How that can there was a complaint about the lack of communication with the units of the field when we are supposed to have a separate military communication backbone precisely to secure and ensure the safety and security of this country,” he said.
When he was the DND chief, Enrile said they would immediately alert the military when the country was struck by a disaster.
“I’m sure they have done that. That’s why I’m wondering why people were complaining that there was no communication because I know the Secretary of Defense can communicate with any unit of the military everywhere in the country at any time…” Enrile said.
But Senator Loren Legarda, who was defending the budget of the Department of National Defense, said the military was able to set up its communication system the night “Yolanda” struck the country.
Not satisfied by Legarda’s answer, Enrile went on and pointed out to the absence of the military a day after the typhoon.
Legarda said the military had deployed one brigade in Leyte and at least a platoon in Tacloban City, one of the areas ravaged by “Yolanda,” to respond to the victims of the typhoon.
She also pointed out that the police was already in-charge of the city after it was declared insurgence-free even before it was hit by the typhoon. She said that the military had not been remiss in is duty.
But Enrile said: “You can’t expect the police to operate in a calamity condition because their families are also affected. That’s why we have a military manpower; that’s the reason why when we organized the national disaster control system, the military is always the one in command…”
In an interview after the budget hearing, Gazmin repeated Legarda’s explanation about the lack of military presence in the areas.
“Yung Tacloban earlier way before was declared insurgency free, so hawak na ng police…Napagkasunduan ng PNP Philippine National Police at AFP na pagka build-up areas, PNP ang mag ti-take over,” he said.
“But I’m not trying to justify na walang sundalo. Merong sundalo pero kakaunti. May isang platoon ng sundalo,” the DND chief added.
Related stories
Study details high costs of PH typhoons for families, infants
‘Yolanda’ revives compensation row at UN climate talks
Roxas-Romualdez standoff remains unresolved