AFP to quarantine Pinoy peacekeepers from Liberia

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino peacekeepers arriving from Ebola-stricken Liberia would be quarantined at the Armed Forces Peacekeeping Operations Center (PKOC) in Tarlac upon their return to the country next month.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. said soldiers assigned at the PKOC would be temporarily transferred to another office while the peacekeepers are undergoing medical checkup.

“I think they will be brought to the PKOC. We will prepare the place and we will move the soldiers assigned there so that the peacekeepers from Liberia can be isolated,” Catapang told reporters yesterday in Camp Aguinaldo.

Col. Roberto Ancan, chief of the Armed Forces Peacekeeping Operations Center, said the soldiers would be transferred to their satellite office in Camp Aguinaldo.

He said the peacekeepers are scheduled to arrive between Nov. 10 to 14 via a chartered flight.

Ancan said members of the Philippine peacekeeping contingent in Liberia are still “doing well” as he expressed hope that none of them contracted the deadly virus.

The government has decided to pull out its 110-strong peacekeeping contingent to Liberia due to the outbreak of the Ebola virus, which has swept through West Africa and has left about 4,900 persons dead.

Officials have given assurances that they are doing everything to prevent the entry of the virus in the Philippines.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council will form a new working group to establish protocols in the event that the deadly virus enters the country.