As part of the Aquino administration’s commitment to support the country’s retired men in uniform, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released a combined amount of P9.91 billion to the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the second-quarter pension requirements of war veterans and retired military personnel.
DBM Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad said that P7.50 billion of the total amount will benefit 120,296 pensioners of the AFP, of which 2,583 comprise new beneficiaries for 2014. Both releases were sourced from the Pension and Gratuity Fund under the 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA)
“This latest release guarantees the timely delivery of regular pension benefits to our retired military personnel for the second quarter of the year," he said.
At the same time, Abad said the government continues its transparency efforts to update, validate and cleanse our list of beneficiaries so that it's free of invalid, duplicate, and ghost entries.
"Our pensioners and their families will therefore receive the benefits due them much more quickly and efficiently, all while we ensure greater accountability in the payment process," he said.
Meanwhile, some P2.40 billion was released to 208,458 PVAO veterans to cover old age pensions, death pensions, disability pensions, and total administrative disability (TAD) pensions for the second quarter of the year.
The DBM chief noted that the automation of pension payments is one among several administration-led initiatives to tap digital technology to strengthen transparency and accountability in the Philippine bureaucracy.
“Before we began clearing the list of pension beneficiaries, we found out that hundreds of millions were going to ghost pensioners or deceased retirees every year. Switching from check to ATM payments nipped these anomalies in the bud," Abad said.
"More important, however, is the fact that we're able to give better support to our retired military personnel and our war veterans. Such digitization and cashless initiatives ultimately allow us to deliver public services faster and protect government processes from corruption," he added.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=637175
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