And while the soldiers currently sleeping at the Barranco base are waiting until they can return to their post permanently, those at Price Barracks have gotten their bathrooms renovated. And at the handing over ceremony for the new facilities, Minister Marin said that they want to do more for the soldiers, but it's a matter of getting the funding:.
Hon. Florencio Marin, Minister of Defense & Border Security
"When we first came into office in November 2020, we did a tour and a proper evaluation of the status of the force and at the same time if you remember, the economic situation was dire. So, sitting down we reflected on how we can move and what we found out is that the first priorities that we must deal with is the welfare of our soldiers; welfare, welfare, welfare. So, we started with the resources we had, and we figured well let's start ablutions where the soldiers have to go to shower and do their personal business every day. I figured that is where we start so we've been doing them little by little and one by one, wherever we can pull a little resource from here and there to get it done for them. We're looking forward to a rebound of the economy where we can do much, much more as there is a lot more we can do. Not all of them can withstand the retrofitting, some of them are quite frankly, should just be knocked down and this was one of them."
