AFP urges media: Help bridge soldiers fighting in Marawi with their kin

MARAWI RITES: In this June 12, 2017 file photo, soldiers salute during a flag-raising ceremony at the Lanao del Sur provincial capitol in Marawi to mark Independence Day as the military struggles to force out Islamist militants from the city. —AFP

MANILA — The military has encouraged the media to bridge the troops and their families on Father’s Day on Sunday by giving soldiers in the frontlines a chance to greet their loved ones.

“You know the sacrifices being made by our soldiers in the frontlines, especially in Marawi, and many are fathers and they won’t be with their families on Sunday for Father’s Day. We invite the media to give them a chance to let them greet their loved ones on Father’s Day, also to boost the morale of their families,” AFP spokesperson, Brigadier General Restituto Padilla, Jr. said at a press conference on Thursday.

Padilla said the journalists in Marawi City could interview the soldiers who had just returned from the battlefield.

He said the media could request the soldiers’ commanders to allow them to take photos and videos of the soldiers.

A reporter’s question on Father’s Day added “a human touch to the realities of a soldier’s sacrifice,” Padilla said.  SFM