PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) spokesperson Brigadier General Bernard Banac on Sunday, March 22, denied reports that the police and the military will spray pesticides in the country using helicopters to combat the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
“This is patently FAKE NEWS and must be disregarded outright. The Inter-Agency Task Force on Managing Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) has denied any such flight operations,” Banac said in a statement.
He said there is no such order and the Department of Health (DOH) has already made it clear that pesticides are only for pests and not for viruses.
He also denied that the PNP has issued an order specifying the time during which people can go out of their houses to buy their necessities.
Based on the graphics circulating online with a PNP logo, one person per household is allowed to go out to buy necessities only between 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The post warned that those who go out of their homes beyond this designated schedule will be arrested.
Banac said the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group is already tracing the people behind the fake news and “highly malicious” post. (SunStar Philippines)