Duterte orders 1-stop shop for soldiers’ widows

DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao—President Duterte on Thursday ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to put up one-stop shops for widows and relatives of soldiers killed in the line of duty.

In his speech before soldiers during his second visit to Camp Siongco here, Mr. Duterte said he did not want the widows and relatives of slain soldiers to experience delay in the processing of documents so they can claim the benefits due them right away.

“I want the AFP to have an office for claims of widows of slain soldiers,” he said, adding that he was “willing to spend for this office.”

Mr. Duterte said that at the one-stop shops he was envisioning, all widows or relatives of slain soldiers have to do is to sign documents and then receive their benefits after doing so.

‘Idiotic system’

“You process the documentary requirements in their claim for monetary benefits, not the widows. I do not want the widows, whose spouses already offered their lives for our country, to suffer the pain of processing documentary requirements and eventually losing money,” he said, addressing military leaders.

Mr. Duterte said he despised such “idiotic system” that punishes relatives or widows of slain soldiers.

He said one-stop shops should be established in all regions. A separate one should also be put up for the police.

“They (widows) should not suffer the pains of spending much money, some loaned from loan sharks, to follow up documentary requirements in claiming death benefits of their spouses,” Mr. Duterte said.

2 slain soldiers promoted

In an earlier visit to the camp’s chapel, where the coffins of Cpl. Josel Miravalles and Private First Class Jay Pee Duran had been opened to mourners and sympathizers, Mr. Duterte also personally extended his sympathies to the bereaved families.

“Death is an appointed time with God that no one knows when, but Him. God has a master plan, and in due time, He will come to judge the living and the dead,” he told the grieving families.

The two soldiers were killed during a military-backed antidrug operation in Midsayap, North Cotabato, on Aug. 14. Several other soldiers were wounded in the operation.

Mr. Duterte also handed out military merit medals, in a posthumous award rite, to surviving families and promoted the two slain soldiers to the next rank.

During his speech, the President announced that his promised salary increase to soldiers will appear in their pay slips beginning next month.

Full government support

He also said he has set aside P5 billion for the modernization of the AFP’s medical facilities and the upgrading of the weapons of soldiers.

He assured them of full government support “as long as I am the president.”

“You will have the standard firepower, the best that we can be proud of,” Mr. Duterte said.

He also reiterated an earlier statement that his job “is not to wage war, but primarily to seek peace with everybody, because we cannot fight forever.”

“Find a space in your heart in search of true peace that we may enjoy in our time and the next generation to come. Let us iron out differences and mend fences for the sake of our children, and children’s children, for after all, we are one and the same in the beginning,” Mr. Duterte said. TVJ