Examining the Public Signs of the AFP's General Headquarters: Military Response and Culture in Addressing COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction 

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), our country’s military organization, is mandated under the Constitution as the “protector of the people and the State.” Its chief goal is to uphold and secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of the national territory. Hence, the AFP was one of the main government agencies providing public safety and security amidst the global health crisis, together with the Philippine National Police (PNP). Against the backdrop of the worsening health crisis in the Philippines in 2020, the AFP was one of the very first agencies optimized by the government to enact and enforce the mechanisms to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Sapla & Ojano, 2020). 

The country’s military was part of the Whole-of-Government Approach observed in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures laid down by the IATF-MEID, which was at the helm of the Department of Health (DOH) and wherein the AFP is a member, had to be enforced, especially the community quarantine in the National Capital Region and checkpoints in its borders to restrict movement in and out of the Metro Manila. The National Action Plan (NAP) for the pandemic stipulates that the National Task Force (NTF), shall supplement the IATF, the policy-making body for the operations to address the COVID-19 pandemic, by acting as the latter’s operational command spearheaded by the Secretary of National Defense. Relatedly, the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” grants the President special powers that will allow him to fast-track the implementation of NAP. Apart from these measures, the AFP is also tasked to take action and plan to expeditiously respond to request from other government departments or civil authorities for support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The concerted efforts of the organization support the hard labor of our medical workers and other front liners to successfully curb the rise of COVID-19 cases. Other government agencies and the general public can rely on them in setting up makeshift clinics, in ensuring the continuous supply of food, non-food supplies, and equipment in the communities, in maintaining peace and order, and in assuring that government response to the pandemic is not hampered by any threat.

Given its active role in the country’s “war” against the pandemic, I have chosen to conduct a linguistic landscape (LL) study on the public signs of the AFP’s primary headquarters situated in the heart of Quezon City. Besides analyzing the visual elements and the functions of the signs, I aim to look at how these reflect the response or contribution of the military and the government, including the organizational culture evoked by the given signs. I delved into the signs amidst the pandemic to answer the following questions:  

1. What language is dominant in the signs? 
2. What communicative functions and intentions are associated with the language used in the signs?
3. To what extent do these signs reflect the AFP’s response (and the government’s response, in general) to the COVID-19 pandemic?  
4. To what extent do these signs reflect and create the military culture in addressing this global pandemic which has become a national concern? 

In this blog content, I intend to prove that although the initiatives of the AFP and the government, in general, are somehow “militarized”, the ways by which the organization set up the signs in its general headquarters are not too authoritative or too “demanding” (Yusingco & Pizarro, 2020).  Guided by Ron Scollon’s geosemiotics as the framework, I found out that there is a paradigm shift in terms of military culture based on how the AFP puts up its public signs to help contain the spread of COVID-19 in its garrison compared to how it carries out its COVID-19-related tasks for the civilian populace.

Framework 

In this LL study, I employed the geosemiotics by Scollon which refers to an analytical framework used to examine public discourse, especially signs, ‘situated in the material world and shaped by social and cultural use’. Otherwise known as ‘discourses in place’, it posits that the meaning of public texts can be deciphered through physical and social contextualization (Zidjaly, 2014). It accounts for how the structures, other people, and our actions produce meanings in the light of such public discourses. In the nutshell, it is a place-based semiotic interpretation, which is primarily concerned with ways these discourses, or signs, are indexed in the world (Whittingham, 2019).  

It has three (3) interconnected systems namely: 1) interaction order, 2) visual semiotics, and 3) place semiotics, investigating the shift from abstract meaning to real-world meaning through indexicality. The first component or the interaction order refers to the social connection, relationships, and interactions of people with one another. For instance, the people in the headquarters’ station hospital, roadways, and parking areas interact in one way or another, especially since these areas are public, and at the same time, not too exclusive for the employees and people residing in the camp. The second component – the visual semiotics is concerned with how people perceive different various meaning-making resources “within our visual fields”. In the camp, for example, signs encouraging the public to adhere to the health protocols and those that help regulate the traffic on the camp’s premises fall under this category.  However, it is argued that visual semiotics may also be construed as “interaction order” or place semiotics, provided that they are deemed “visual.”  As the case may be, this study intends to provide a macro-linguistic analysis of the data collected – from the language used and communicative function to the military’s response to COVID-19 and culture evoked by the signs. Lastly, the third component is the place semiotics which deals with the ‘physicality of place as a semiotic resource to inform the interaction order, social production of space’ (Zidjaly, 2014) (Whittingham, 2019) (Scollon & Scollon, 2003).   

Part and parcel of the place semiotics are the signs' visual characteristics such as code preference, inscription, and emplacement. These characteristics are inherent in the visual display of language. In this study, I slightly dabble in these and use pragmatics and semantics in backing up my analysis and interpretation of the signs, especially in terms of identifying their communicative functions and relating the military response and culture in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Finocchiaro and Brumft (1983) identify the five categories of communicative functions which are expanded by Tedick (2002) as shown in Table 1 (Eclipse & Tenedero, 2018).

In answering the remaining objectives (3rd and 4th), I am guided by the theory of meaning as mental representations. It posits that there must be more meaning than simply denotation or referent, that is, extra dimension sense. According to Saeed (2009), this convention creates a new level between words and the world: a level of mental representation. One simple and old idea is that such representations are mental images of the reader. 

Analysis

Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo General Station Hospital

The three (3) photos of signs at the entrance of the hospital are all written in the English language, which is automatic since this is the country’s second official language and all of these are considered authorized signs. In the first photo of the signs (Figure 1), the people are reminded to always wear their face masks and observe physical distancing to avoid contracting the COVID-19 virus. At first glance, the signs might appear direct until one can notice the term “Reminders” at the top in red font. Its communicative function still falls under the “Directive” category in Table 1, yet, serves as a trigger for people to remember the basic health protocols. Towards achieving the primary intent of the message, the station hospital opted to increase the number or quantity of the physical signs for emphasis. Instead of just a sole sign, the establishment has decided to put up nine (9) signs in total. There is a sign in the leftmost part of the photo which is not in uniform with the rest of the sign but it is not that noticeable. 

This indicates that the AFP takes into account that the station hospital’s customers are not confined to the military personnel, hence, the language is appropriate and acceptable to civilians – courteous and not too direct. This is contrary to the “militarized” approach to containing COVID-19 in the country in which there is a perception of “hamletting” (clearing an area of an alleged rebel presence and maintaining a military presence to keep them out) when President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s uttered “shoot them dead” during a television address, referring to how the military and policy should treat lockdown violators. Many Filipinos, including me, found this appalling, especially since a big chunk of NCR’s population has to leave their homes to work for a living.

Figure 1: Signs at the entrance of Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo Station Hospital

Beside the doorway of the hospital is another sign urging the public to follow the basic health protocols – wearing facemasks and face shields. Unlike the first sign, the second sign contains a drawing of a man wearing a face shield, and in his rightmost is a pair of goggles in case a face shield is not available. At the bottom is a drawing of a man wearing a facemask in a proper manner. Although the intention is to direct the people to do so, there is a hint of “giving and responding to instructions or directions” in the inclusion of images, apart from texts. This sign implies the military culture of giving instructions and expecting the people to obey, especially during the pandemic in which people’s lives are at stake. On a positive note, this is situated along the doorway wherein the employees come in and out. This indicates that since the workers are already acquainted with or even used to this culture, the AFP has placed the sign where foot traffic is not that high. Same analysis goes to the third sign, the only difference is that it only refers to wearing facemasks (Figure 3). 

Figure 2: First sign at the doorway of the Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo Station Hospital 

Figure 3: Second sign at the doorway of the Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo Station Hospital 

Roadway

Driving with a friend along the roadways inside the Camp, I noticed that a quarantine center has been set up. Along the entrance of the establishment is a banner overhead naming the center “We Heal as One Center” (Figure 4). As mentioned in the introduction, AFP is one of the key government agencies in the COVID-19 response supplementing the role played by medical practitioners and other frontliners. Thus, it is not surprising to name the quarantine center using the country’s primary tagline which aims to inspire Filipinos to come together and contribute to the fight against COVID-19. Although the basic communicative function of this sign is referential, specifically, the function of identifying items or people in the community, the AFP promotes the government advocacy to “heal as one” amidst the pandemic. It may also serve as a “glimmer of hope” to those people who have contracted the virus and will stay/staying in the government’s quarantine center.

Figure 4: Quarantine Center in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo

Parking Areas 

Known for imposing discipline among the drivers on the Camp’s premises, especially in terms of parking, nothing has changed in the regulatory signs, an example is shown in Figure 5. 

Figure 5: Parking Area in Soldier's Mall, Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo

Conclusion  

Examining the public signs along the station hospital, roadways, and parking areas of Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, located at the heart of Quezon City, reveals facts about the military response to contain the spread of COVID-19 and showcases a hint of how the military evokes its culture. In this LL study, it is found out that although the government’s approach and initiatives in addressing the global health crisis are deemed “militarized, the public signs in its General Headquarters say otherwise since the AFP considers that the camp is also open to the public, especially those who have business inside its premises. However, there are signs displayed at not-so-public-areas evoking the military culture of being too direct and authoritative which are mostly visible to the employees or workers in the Camp, recognizing that they are already familiar with this culture.

Works Cited

Eclipse, A. N., & Tenedero, P. P. (2018). The linguistic landscape of Manila Central Post Offce: A macro-linguistic analysis. Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 158-176.

Lingscape. (n.d.). What's in a sign. Retrieved from Lingscape: https://lingscape.uni.lu/whats-in-a-sign/

Saeed, J. I. (2009). Semantics: Third Edition . Oxford: Blackwell Publishing .

Sapla, G. A., & Ojano, J. M. (2020, April 3). The Armed Forces of the Philippines in the Threat of COVID-19 Pandemic. PCEDS Strategic Analysis: COVID-19 Monitoring. Quezon City , Metro Manila , Philippines: National Defense College of the Philippines.

Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. W. (2003). Discourses in Place: Language in the Material World,. London/New York: Routledge.

Whittingham, C. E. (2019). Geosemiotics←→Social Geography: Preschool Places and School(ed) Spaces. Journal of Literary Research, 52-74.

Yusingco, M., & Pizarro, A. (2020, June 18). The Militarized Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines: An Escalating Threat to Human Rights. Retrieved from IACL-AIDC Blog: https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/2020-posts/2020/6/18/the-militarized-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-the-philippines-an-escalating-threat-to-human-rights

Zidjaly, N. (2014). Geosemiotics: Discourses in place. In S. Norris, & C. Maier, Interactions, Images and Texts: A Reader in Multimodality (pp. 63-76). Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.