THE Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released the pension requirements of military and uniformed personnel (MUP) amounting to around P54.231 billion, in line with Congress Joint Resolution (JR) 1, Series of 2018.
In a statement, the DBM said it released the pension requirements of retired MUP under the Armed Forces of the Philippines-General Headquarters (AFP-GHQ), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).
Broken down, the DBM released P29.9 billion to the AFP-GHQ, P21.7 billion to the PNP, P1.9 billion to the BFP and around P731 million to the BJMP.
“The release order for uniformed personnel of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority shall be issued upon its submission of the required Special Budget Request to the DBM,” the DBM said.
The DBM pointed out that the current base pay scale for MUPs is stipulated under Congress JR 1, Series of 2018, or the “Joint Resolution Authorizing the Increase in Base Pay of Military and Uniformed Personnel in the Government, and for Other Purposes.”Congress JR 1, Series of 2018, was passed on January 1, 2018, fulfilling President Duterte’s promise of increasing the base pay of all MUP.
However, the indexation of pensions to the current base pay scale was suspended in 2018 under the same JR, which states that “pending the review of the current MUP pension system by the Legislative and Executive branches of the government xxx the indexation of the pension of retired MUP with the base pay of those in the active service shall be suspended with respect to the base pay increase authorized in this JR.”
The resolution, however, also provided that the suspension of the indexation to the current base pay scale for MUPs would be lifted come January 1, 2019, or if a pension reform law is already implemented.
“This suspension shall be automatically lifted on January 1, 2019, or upon the effectivity of a pension reform law, whichever comes earlier,” according to the DBM.
Image credits: Wesmincom Armed Forces of the Philippines via AP/Bullit Marquez