Troops hold anti-coup drill at Fort Bonifacio

At the sound of the siren, the armed guards at the Marine headquarters in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, immediately closed the gates of the camp and manned their battle stations, and prevented the entry and exit of both soldiers and civilians.

But there is no need to be alarmed, since this is not part of efforts to destabilize the government, but a regular camp defense drill.

Lt. Col. Jonas Lumawag, Marines spokesman, said that what happened was what they call the General Quarters, which is part of the Annual General Inspection, to determine if camp guards would be able to respond immediately to crisis situations.

“The evaluators will just inspect the camp’s readiness. It just so happened that the GQ took place at a time when there are rumors about destabilization, but this is just part of our routine, to assess whether our defense sector could respond immediately. It is usually unannounced so that the guards could not prepare,” he said.

Lumawag said he himself could not go out of the camp because its gates were closed.

Lt. Col. Ariel Caculitan, Navy spokesman, said that drills like this determine how quickly  camp guards are able to man their battle positions.

“There is no cause for the public to be alarmed. These are just drills that are evaluated by inspectors,” Caculitan said.

The military leadership has repeatedly vowed to remain apolitical amid controversies surrounding the Arroyo administration, in connection with the revelation of alleged corruption involved in the scrapped national broadband deal between the government and China’s ZTE Corp.

 Last year, a similar drill was conducted at the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ general headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo, amid rumors of an attempt to grab power from the government.

Following the said drill, officials were quick to react that the exercise was not in any way connected to any destabilization attempt, but just a routine inspection to assess the preparedness of the military police and other camp-based troops in responding to crisis situations.