(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte gave financial assistance and moral support to soldiers wounded in recent military encounters with the Abu Sayyaf during his visit to Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City on Saturday, December 17.
A day after his return from his exhausting four day state visit in Cambodia and Singapore, the President wasted no time and personally checked the condition of the 16 soldiers who were wounded in action in ASG encounters in Basilan and Sulu.
He also made sure that the families of the soldiers slain in the encounters were given adequate financial assistance.
“We should take care of all soldiers. They are giving up their lives for this republic . . . and there’s no peace after pain and suffering,” he said, affected, and at one point a bit emotional as he made the rounds of the wounded soldiers.
“We must ease their sufferings and my work here is to visit them, give them some cash and brand new cellular phones.”
There were three soldiers and 10 ASG members reportedly killed in an encounter last week.
The wounded soldiers got a total of P110,000 in financial assistance, while each of the surviving families of the slain soldiers got over P500,000 in assistance.
This amount includes the P200,000 from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the P80,000 in funeral assistance.
AFP spokesperson Col. Restituto Padilla said President Duterte also gave P250,000 from the Presidential Social Fund.
“The President is advocating for an increase in the amount of the financial assistance being given to slain or wounded soldiers,” he said.
“This is to assist families of our heroes,” Padilla said.