MANILA, Philippines – The vaccination of military personnel against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will be mandatory although the soldiers can choose which brand to receive, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Thursday.

In a virtual press briefing, AFP Spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo said all soldiers will be obliged to get inoculated as ordered by AFP chief of staff Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana.

The directive came even as the military has yet to ascertain where its vaccine supply will be coming from, or if they are among those who will receive the first 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines donated by the Chinese government.

“Ang Sandatahang Lakas ng Pilipinas po is not like any ordinary organizations. Tayo po ay nasa service-orientated organization. Tayo po ang inaasahan sa napakaraming mabibigat na tungkulin kagaya nga po ng pagharap sa pandemya as early as 2020. Kaya sinabi natin na hindi opsyon ang pag-ayaw. Subalit kinikilala natin yung kanilang kagustuhan ng brand na gusto nila” he said.

Military personnel who will be choosing other brands of the vaccine will need to pay for their own jabs, Arevalo said.

Those who refuse to get vaccinated will face sanctions under military rules, he added.

“We are an organization under military regulations. So, ang pagtupad sa mga regulasyon o sa mga tinatadhana ng existing legal orders buhat sa ating mga superiors just like this one from the AFP Chief of Staff, no less, will be dealt with disciplinary actions kung hindi nila susundin,” he said.

“But we are confident na hindi na tayo darating sa punto na iyon,” he added.

The AFP said all its employees and troops assigned in the medical and healthcare units will be the first to get inoculated against COVID-19.

The donated Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines from China are expected to arrive in the country this weekend. –RRD (with details from Correspondent Joan Nano)

MANILA, Philippines — Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Lt.Gen. Cirilito Sobejana underscored that the military is instituted to secure the country and serve its people, and not to threaten anyone.

“The reason of our existence is serving the people and securing the land, no threatening among our constituents,” Sobejena said.

“Paano kami magiging effective public servant if we threaten them, unless they are identified as enemies of the state,” he added.

Sobejana made the statement in connection to the possible lawsuit that National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Spokesperson Lt. General Antonio Parlade plans to file against a reporter of Inquirer.Net.

Sobejena, however, said that whatever Parlade says as spokesperson of NTF-ELCAC also reflects the stand of the AFP as he is an officer of the military.

“We will discuss this matter together. He is part of the armed forces pero for now, nadesignate siya as spokesperson, reflective pa rin sa organization. That’s why we need to discuss all these things para ma thresh out natin lahat,” the AFP Chief of Staff said.

The issue stemmed from a Facebook post of Gen. Parlade accusing Inquirer.net journalist Tech Torres-Tupas of being a propagandist when the latter featured a story involving a petition in the Supreme Court that was filed by an Aeta tribe against the military for allegedly torturing them.

In the said post, Parlade denied the incident and threatened to charge the journalist in court for supporting the terrorists by spreading false information. –MNP (with reports from Lea Ylagan)

MANILA, Philippines – A high-ranking official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has taken a leave of absence following the publication of an ‘erroneous’ list of individuals allegedly recruited from the University of the Philippines (UP) to join the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).

In a statement, Major General Benedict Arevalo, AFP deputy chief of staff for civil-military operations (J7) said he went on leave pending an investigation into his office’s publication of a list of alleged UP graduates and students who were killed or captured in military operations.

“In the light of these developments, I will go on leave of absence so as not to influence the ongoing investigation,” Arevalo said in a statement.

“As the Chief of Office for Civil Military Operations, J7, I personally take responsibility of their actions. This is the reason why I issued a public apology and reiterated it in my succeeding interviews,” he added.

Last week, the AFP Information Exchange posted on its social media page a list of alleged UP students recruited by the NPA.

Several UP alumni included in the list have expressed concern and demanded an apology from the AFP as they denied any link to the NPA.

Following the backlash, the AFP unit has earlier apologized for the blunder.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also relieved deputy staff for intelligence Major General Alex Luna over the release of the list.

“His negligence only shows a lackadaisical attitude towards his job resulting in confusion and damage to reputation,” Lorenzana said. – RRD (with details from Correspondent Lea Ylagan)