MUP pension still included in 2024 budget: budget chief

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 21, 2023): MUP pension still included in 2024 budget: budget chief (By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos)

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MANILA – The military and uniformed personnel’s (MUP) pension is still included in the proposed national budget for 2024, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said Wednesday.

During the Kapihan sa Manila Bay Forum, Pangandaman said the MUP pension for next year is projected to be about PHP213 billion.

“I think the magnitude ng ating (of our) MUP pension in our budget yearly is up to PHP213 billion,” she said. “It’s included (in the proposed 2024 budget). Syempre naman po kapag hindi pumasa, kawawa naman sila (Of course, if the [proposed bill] fails to get approved, the [MUP personnel] would suffer). As of now, since wala pa po (since it is still a proposal), we still consider it.”

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno earlier warned of “fiscal collapse” stemming from the increasing pension payments for MUP.

Diokno said the MUP pensions reached PHP213 billion this year and might breach PHP1 trillion by 2025.

Pangandaman said the economic team’s technical staff is holding a series of consultations with various MUP services to come up with the “right” measure to introduce reforms to their current pension scheme.

She admitted that the country’s fiscal space remains “tight” because of the existing MUP pension system, adding that the planned reforms have to be done through “some sort of transition.”

“Hindi natin tinanggal muna kaya nga tight pa rin talaga ang fiscal space (We did not remove the pension yet, that’s why our fiscal space is still tight),” Pangandaman said. “Sa amin po (For us), any measure or reform that will help ease the fiscal space for our budget to be able to fund yung mga mas (our more) pressing program natin, it’s a welcome news for the DBM.”

The economic team is eyeing the completion of the administration’s version of the MUP pension reform bill by July.

Pangandaman said the outcome of the consultations with MUPs could be included in the bills filed before the Senate.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1203992