Soldiers share allowance to SAF 44 kin

MANILA, Philippines — Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) contributed their subsistence allowance to the kin of the 44 fallen Special Action Force troops killed last month.

“There was a voluntary contribution requested from members of the Armed Forces a few weeks after the Mamasapano incident. The voluntary contribution is a form to help our brothers in arms as a form of help and assistance to the families of the bereaved,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Restituto Padilla said on Wednesday at a press briefing at Camp Aguinaldo.

An amount of P30 was deducted from members of armed forces last February, shortly after the Mamasapano incident. It couldn’t be immediately said how many of the 125,000 strong armed forces made a contribution.

Soldiers have done the same thing in the past, Padilla said, citing the typhoons Pablo and Yolanda and the deaths of 19 Special Forces in Al Barka as examples.

“I think it is but fitting that the leadership called for a voluntary contribution again because of the incident last Jan. 25….[The amount collected] will be turned over to our brothers in arms in the Philippine National Police once the Finance has been able to collect all of these voluntary contributions,” Padilla said.

A botched police operation last January killed 44 SAF troops while targeting to arrest top terrorists Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan and Basit Usman.

The voluntary contribution came even after the military has been blamed for delayed reinforcements because of lack of coordination.

“The Armed Forces has aired its point regarding that issue and I think we put that behind our back. That’s why in the past weeks you have seen the PNP and AFP working very closely together…Life goes on, we have to keep on our duties and put this behind our back. Wala po sa amin ‘yun. Trabaho lang, walang samaan ng loob (It’s nothing to us. We just want to do our jobs without any hostility),” Padilla said.

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