Senator Ronald ''Bato'' De la Rosa said Tuesday that he wants to increase the military subsistence allowance, which has remained at P150.

During a budget hearing in the Senate committee on finance, Department of National Defense officer-in-charge Jose Faustino, Jr. said: ''Yes, it is still at P150. It is P150 per day on the field for each soldier. We all have to balance it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

“It’s about time to increase it, right?” Dela Rosa said.

“Right now, you can only buy vinegar, soy sauce, and salt with P150. Then, the soldiers have to find or harvest leafy vegetables in the streets. We know that,” he added.

Senator Raffy Tulfo said when he was campaigning, he saw soldiers only eating sardines for meals which he found pitiful.

“What can P150 buy per day today? They have to eat three times a day. That’s not enough,” Tulfo said.

The late President Benigno Aquino III in 2014 approved a joint resolution by Congress that increased the subsistence allowance from P90 to P150.

Tulfo also called on the DND to stop generals from using soldiers into their servants.

“There is something I have observed. A couple of years ago, when I go to the house of the generals, I saw that they would make their soldiers their ‘boys’. Don’t do that. I know that for a fact. You can’t deny that,” Tulfo said.

“Our soldiers were trained by our government how to handle a gun properly and how to defend our country against enemy forces, not how to hold a broom for cleaning,” he added.

Faustino said: “Under my leadership in the Department of National Defense, we will comply. We will also investigate the matter. We will also direct the Armed Forces of the Philippines to pull out soldiers (who are being turned into servants).”

Tulfo earlier said it was important that soldiers have high morale.

“Let me remind you guys that no matter how efficient the equipment is, it is only as good as the people behind them. The people who operate them. That’s why it is important that our soldiers have high morale.” Jaspearl Tan/DMS