MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos would die without defense if it happens that North Korea miscalculates its trajectory and its missile accidentally hits the Philippines.
This is the grim scenario painted by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday after the hermit kingdom fired a missile that flew over northern Hokkaido in Japan, far out into the Pacific Ocean.
No shelters, no bunkers, can’t intercept missile
Unlike the U.S. and other advanced countries, the Philippines does not have air raid shelters and underground bunkers with enough food and water supply to survive from the cataclysmic effects of a missile attack, according to the DND chief.
Also, Lorenzana said the country does not have the capability to intercept a missile and destroy it mid-air.
“So natatakot tayo diyan. Very concerning. Sabi nila, eh (kung) bumagsak diyan sa Luneta, eh anong mangyayari sa Manila? And it has…how many? Ten times as powerful as the one drop in Hiroshima. Eh ‘di ten times din ‘yong destruction. So very concerning ‘yan,” the Defense chief said.
[So we are afraid of that. Very concerning. They say that if it falls on Luneta, what would happen to Manila? And it has…how many? Ten times as powerful as the one drop in Hiroshima. So the destruction would be ten times. So it’s very concerning.]
‘Kung oras mo na, oras mo na’
Lorenza said he had asked President Rodrigo Duterte what the country would do if the scenario becomes a reality.
He then quoted the chief executive as saying that because we won’t be able to do anything to defend ourselves, we just should go on living and just accept if it’s already our time to die.
“Now, I’m going to tell you what the President said. ‘Anong magagawa natin?’ Sabi niya, ‘Wala naman tayong…we cannot shoot the missiles so that it will not come here. Just go, do your daily…what you’re doing regularly,'” said Lorenzana.
“Sabi niya, ‘Kung oras mo na, oras mo na,'” he added.
“So what can we do? We cannot start digging now, digging for air raid shelters. We just pray and hope… that the missile will drop somewhere there in Pacific Ocean,” the DND chief said.
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