Developing an Android and Web-Based Casualty Assistance and Management System for Philippine Army Personnel

The survivor and/or the family of a fallen soldier are entitled to casualty assistance and benefits from the government. Recourse to this aid requires the submission and processing of documents at the designated office in Metro Manila. To ensure that the survivor and/or the bereaved family is provided with the needed and critical support in this difficult time, an active soldier is appointed by the Philippine Army as the Survivor Assistance Officer (SAO). The SAO is tasked to assist the family in com-pleting the process to be able to avail of the benefits. Despite the Philippine Army's strong commitment to extending assistance, unfortunately, the benefits are availed of by the beneficiaries belatedly and, sadly, some families are not able to receive the benefits in full. This study teases out the barriers which cause the delay in the delivery of the benefits due to the survivor of the Philippine Army and/or the legal dependents of the killed soldier. Its findings show that the difficulties encountered to put the intent, to provide timely benefits to the survivor and/or the family members of the departed officer can be addressed by reinventing the current casualty assistance and benefits processing system. To do this, the study recommends the use of a mobile application called “Kawal”, developed by the authors. It is an Android and web-based casualty assistance management system which aims to simplify the transaction procedure and make the benefits claim process more friendly, especially for those from the countryside.