Five former military and police officers, who are now
lawmakers, are urging the members of the House of Representatives to include
the pension of veterans and retired military and uniformed personnel in the
coverage of the proposed “Salary Standardization Law of 2015” as a sign of
appreciation and respect to them for risking their lives to protect the
country.
The lawmakers made the appeal to House members through House
Resolution 2547. The measure is principally authored by Rep. Gary C. Alejano
(Party-list, Magdalo) and co-authored by Reps. Francisco Ashley L. Acedillo
(Party-list, Magdalo), Leopoldo N. Bataoil (2nd District, Pangasinan), Samuel
D. Pagdilao (Party-list, ACT-CIS) and Romeo M. Acop (2nd District, Antipolo City
While House Bill 6268, or the proposed “Salary
Standardization Law of 2015” or SSL 2015 will benefit 1.53 million civilian,
military and uniformed personnel of the national government, the lawmakers
noted it excludes from its coverage, however, the pension of the military and
uniformed personnel.
Specifically, Section 11 of HB 6268 provides for the
suspension of the indexation of pension benefits of retired military and
uniformed personnel with the base pay for those in the active service pending
the passage of a pension reform law establishing a sustainable and just pension
system for military and uniformed personnel.
According to the lawmakers, it is unfair that the suspension
of the indexation of pension benefits for retired military and uniformed
personnel be based on the passage of a pension reform law, which has not yet
been filed for the consideration of Congress.
The lawmakers cited that the exclusion of the retired
military and uniformed personnel from the SSL 2015 further undermines existing
laws that entitle retired military and uniformed personnel the same privileges
as those in the active duty.
“The omission of the retired military and uniformed
personnel from the coverage of the SSL 2015 discredits the sacrifices made by
our veterans and retirees who have spent almost half of their lives as
guardians of peace and protectors of democracy,” the lawmakers said in their
resolution.
On the other hand, they said the inclusion of the retired
military and unformed personnel in the SSL 2015 coverage would be a fair
gesture from the State in recognizing the rights of the retired military and
uniformed personnel to a fair adjustment in their pension.
“As representatives of the people, it is high time that we
stand up in behalf of our veterans, and retired military and uniformed
personnel to show our utmost appreciation and respect to them for risking their
lives to protect our country. We urge the members of the House of
Representatives to include our veterans and retired military and uniformed
personnel in the SSL 2015 coverage,” the resolution stated.
House Resolution 2547 is now pending at the House Committee
on Appropriations chaired by Rep. Isidro T. Ungab (3rd District, Davao City),
which last month passed HB 6268 seeking to modify the compensation and position
classification system of civilian government personnel and the base pay
schedule of military and uniformed personnel in the government to be
implemented in four tranches, starting Jan. 1, 2016.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=841262
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