Five former police and military officials, now lawmakers, pushes for the overhaul of the entire benefit and pension system in the uniformed service to allow the government to fulfill its duties to the retirees.
According to Magdalo Party-list Reps. Francisco Ashley L. Acedillo and Gary C. Alejano, Reps. Samuel D. Pagdilao (Party-list, ACT-CIS), Leopoldo N. Bataoil (2nd District, Pangasinan) and Romeo M. Acop (2nd District, Antipolo City), their proposal will also provide a new fund-sourcing scheme for the uniformed retirees’ pension and benefits that is sustainable in the long term.
The lawmakers formalized their proposal through House Bill 6407, or the proposed “Unified Uniformed Personnel Retirement Benefits and Pension Reform Act of 2016,” which cites as its basis Section 7, Article XVI of the 1987 Constitution, mandating that “The State provide immediate and adequate care, benefits, and other forms of assistance to war veterans and veterans of military campaigns, their surviving spouses and orphans.”
“It is the responsibility of the State to ensure that the retirees continue to receive benefits commensurate to the service they have rendered and that they be allowed to live a comfortable life,” said Acedillo, a vice chairman of the House committee on globalization and World Trade Organization (WTO).
Acedillo further said that to be consistent with the government policy to help foster socio-economic security and general well-being of the country’s veterans in recognition of their bravery and loyalty to the country, the government through existing retirement laws, provides for the automatic adjustment of retirement pension based on the prevailing scale of base pay of similarly ranked active personnel.
Bataoil, a vice-chairman of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, said existing laws also have a non-contributory nature which means that no “seed fund” was established and the budget for pension comes from the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“Such policies led to the ballooning of pension costs. It is estimated that by year 2022, the total pension costs of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will eventually surpass the salaries paid to its active personnel. If this condition is allowed to persist, the government will eventually fail to provide adequate retirement pensions to the uniformed personnel,” said Bataoil.
House Bill 6407 provides the State recognizes the vital role of the uniformed services in providing internal and external security, promoting peace and order, ensuring public safety and further strengthening local government capability aimed towards the effective delivery of basic services to the citizenry.
The State also recognizes the extraordinary hazards, risks, perils and dangers the uniformed personnel of the uniformed services encounter in the performance of their duties.
It shall therefore be the prime concern of the State to provide all uniformed personnel adequate remuneration and benefits, including retirement benefits and pension. To this end, the State shall ensure the retirement benefits and pension scheme of the uniformed personnel is secure, reliable and sustainable.
The bill refers to uniformed service as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), and National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA).
The measure provides that new entrants and those in the active service of the uniformed service, upon their retirement, shall be entitled to receive a monthly retirement pay equivalent to two and one-half percent for each year of active service rendered, but not exceeding 90 percent of the monthly base and longevity pay of the grade next higher than the permanent grade last held.
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