The national government has allotted a total of P850 million for the financial grant of Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (Cafgu) Active Auxiliary (CAA) Service Units this year.
This, as President Duterte authorized a monthly grant of P2,000 allowance for each member starting July 2019 through an executive order.
According to Executive Order (EO) 94 signed by the President on November 8, only duly-appointed members of the CAA Units appearing in the roster maintained by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and actually rendering services shall be entitled to financial support.
Provided, that those who are in the roster and have been appointed but are still undergoing training as of the aforementioned date, shall be entitled to a prorated portion of said financial support upon the satisfactory completion of the prescribed training.
The funding requirements for this purpose shall be sourced from the current year’s available appropriations.
In a text message to the BusinessMirror, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said the total amount is chargeable against the budget of the Philippine Army under the FY 2019 General Appropriations Act.
As for the succeeding years, the funding requirements shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, subject to the submission of the actual number of qualified CAA members to the DBM.
Further, the DBM and the Department of National Defense shall jointly issue appropriate guidelines to implement this order.
In 2018, Duterte signed EO 69 granting members of CAA units financial support worth P7,000 covering the months of November and December, and directed the DBM to study and proposed measures for the continuous grant of financial support on a monthly basis to recognize the invaluable service of the members of the CAA units.
Cafgu was created through EO 264 (Series 1987) which, through the mobilization of CAA units, shall complement and support the regular forces of the AFP in dealing with external security threats.