NOT SO FAST | No pay hike yet for soldiers, policemen, Diokno tells Senate

From InterAksyon (Aug 11): NOT SO FAST | No pay hike yet for soldiers, policemen, Diokno tells Senate

Soldiers, policemen and other members of the uniformed services will not be receiving their full salary increases by August because there is no appropriation in the budget for this purpose, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno told the Senate.

“We cannot promise this August because, as you know, there is nothing in the budget for that. I don’t want to commit a violation of the DAP rule (the Supreme Court ruling striking down the past administration’s Disbursement Acceleration Program). You cannot spend on something that is not authorized by Congress,” Diokno told a hearing on salary standardization conducted by the committee on civil service, government reorganization and profession regulation chaired by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Trillanes, citing President Rodrigo Duterte’s pledge to double the salaries of soldiers, policemen and teachers, asked: “Secretary Diokno is that forthcoming? Because I heard, he promised an incremental increase, starting August, to the soldiers and policemen. Is there any incremental increase coming their way, Secretary Diokno?”
Diokno replied he could not “speak in specific terms at this point” because he would need Duterte’s approval to do so.

“But the idea is really to double their take-home pay, not necessarily the basic pay because, as you know, this has an implication (on) the pension(s) of the military,” he said. “That’s a huge cost that we probably have to think very carefully, unless we have a law which will … amend the current pension system.”

He said the huge costs involved is the reason previous administrations left the current pension system untouched.

“Let me just tell you that, at the present, the pension of the military is now much bigger than the salary of the soldiers. That’s how big the problem is. But we are committed to double the take home pay of the soldiers, we call it the MUP, the military and uniformed personnel: AFP, PNP, Coast Guard and Firemen,” he said.

Diokno added that he was “looking at a three-year trajectory” to accomplish this.
Trillanes, a former Navy officer, hinted that uniformed personnel might be disappointed since Duterte made no mention of a three-year timeframe.

“As you know, the soldiers are holding on to the word of their commander-in-chief,” he said.

Diokno said his department is doing what it can to supplement the uniformed personnel’s income.

“Maybe (in the) last quarter, we’ll give them rice allowance of 20 kilos per month,” the same amount allotted for beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program, “but we’re very careful not to spend for something Congress never authorized,” he said.

Trillanes urged Diokno to sit down with Duterte and his economic cluster to prevent him from making promises he cannot keep.

“You better advise your president because he’s been making commitments and promises left and right. Ayaw nating masira ‘yung credibility niya (We don’t want to see his credibility destroyed),” he said.

http://interaksyon.com/article/131327/not-so-fast--no-pay-hike-yet-for-soldiers-policemen-diokno-tells-senate