Soldiers question 'inhumane' treatment

MANILA, Philippines - Soldiers undergoing retraining at Camp Aguinaldo as a prerequisite for their continued employment in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are reportedly being treated inhumanely, sources said yesterday.

According to insiders, all enlisted personnel – from private to master sergeant – are required to undergo retraining every three years, and failure to do so means automatic discharge from the service.

However, one soldier said the AFP has implemented a new re-enlistment program this year. The previous programs only required soldiers to report daily for classroom lectures and regular military exercises.

The new program requires soldiers to stay in the camp trainee barracks, which lacks double-decker beds. Sources said the soldiers are forced to sleep on pieces of cardboard on the floor.

During the three-week retraining, each soldier is also charged P70 each day for their meals, automatically deducted from their P90 daily subsistence allowance, another insider said. A source said the food served the soldiers is of poor quality.

“Someone is profiting from this. It is sad that other soldiers earn off other soldiers,” the source said, adding that AFP chief Gen. Jessie Dellosa is apparently unaware of the alleged scam.

Other sources said it is awkward to see junior enlisted personnel acting as training instructors to more senior soldiers during the retraining, administered by the AFP Headquarters and Headquarters Support Service.