Senator Raffy Tulfo on Tuesday, September 27 scored the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for using some soldiers to work as household workers.
Tulfo urged the two agencies to stop the practice during the Senate finance sub-committee’s hearing on the proposed 2023 budget of the DND and its attached agencies.
“May na observe ako a couple of years ago, pupunta ka sa bahay ng mga heneral, ginagawang ‘boy’ ang mga sundalo. Huwag naman po (I observed this a couple of years ago, you go to a house of a general, and you will see some soldiers acting as a house helper. Please don’t do that),” Tulfo said addressing his concerns to Defense Secretary Jose Faustino Jr.
“Ang mga sundalo po trinain yan, nag-invest ang ating mga sundalo paano humawak ng baril, paano dumipensa, (Our soldiers were trained, they invested to learn how to carry arms, how to) to defend our country...di para humawak ng walis (not to carry brooms),” Tulfo pointed out.
“We should stop that practice...ayoko na marinig yan. Marami po akong alam bahay ng mga heneral ang daming mga sundalo. Tatlo, apat, lima pa ang mga sundalo doon na ginagawang mga boy (I don’t want to hear things like that. I know of some general’s residences where there are so many soldiers. Around three, four or five soldiers are there and are being used as house helpers.
In response, the DND official said they will investigate the matter and pullout the soldiers they would find working as house helpers in a residence of any military official.
“Sa ilalim po ng aming pamumuno ngayon dito sa DND (Under our leadership in the DND), we will comply,” Faustino said.
“We will investigate the matter also and we will direct the AFP to pullout kung anuman po ang ma-find out namin sa aming hanay (whoever we find out doing that within our ranks,” he said.