Plight of retired cop

In view of the recent increase in benefits granted to those in active service in the Philippine National Police, I would like to let the public know the gross neglect that was done to us old, sick and dying PNP retirees who were disabled due to injuries sustained in the line of duty.

I’m citing here one classic example, my own case. Almost 70 years now, single, hence no direct family of my own, the only government assistance I receive is a monthly pension of P1,000 and nothing more, unbelievable as it is. I don’t even have burial benefits. I retired in 1993 with 17 years active service, shot in the line of duty and paralyzed from the chest down. Doctors at the PNP General Hospital declared me unfit for duty due to permanent total disability.

I’m reduced to skin and bones with two spinal fractures, two painful bed sores and a dislocated right hip joint. My additional injuries were due to a hard fall after I slipped off my wheelchair. At times, my pains and aches become so intense that I take four tablets of sedatives so I could sleep and forget that I live in a country where old, disabled police retirees are treated like rotting garbage.

I wrote to President Duterte for help but like the president before him, nothing came out of it.

SALVADOR MONTEFLOR,
retired police, Antique