A JOINT resolution to increase the base pay of military and uniformed personnel starting next year passed the committee level in the Senate on Wednesday, according to Senator Panfilo Lacson.
“It’s done, it will be endorsed on the floor,” Lacson said after the joint hearing of the three committees on national defense, public order and dangerous drugs and finance.
He said the House of Representatives had approved the measure.
Meanwhile, the House is poised to adopt next week a resolution that seeks to double the salaries of police and military personnel.
This came after the House committee on appropriations led by Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles passed House Joint Resolution 18, or the “Joint Resolution authorizing the increase in base pay of military and uniformed personnel in the government and for other purposes.”
“The Lower Chamber will approve the resolution next week and it will be immediately transmitted to the Senate for its approval,” Nograles said.
Lacson said the approved measure in the committee will be endorsed to the plenary for discussion. Once approved in the Senate, the measure will be tackled at the bicameral conference committee and a final report will be transmitted back to the two chambers for ratification.
Once ratified, the measure will be transmitted to President Rodrigo Duterte for his signature.
Lacson said the base pay increase for the MUP was estimated to cost the government around P60 billion to P80 billion while the pension for retirees would cost P38 billion.
The fund, he said, could be sourced from the General Appropriations Act and the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund.
Based on the approved resolution, Police Officers 1 and those with equivalent rank could enjoy a 100-percent increase in their salary if Joint Resolution 9 is approved by both chambers of Congress.
Lacson said the base pay of military, police and all uniformed personnel was definite. The remaining issue to be discussed was if the retired [MUPs] would be included in the increase.
“For me personally, my position is that they should also reap the benefits of this law,” Lacson said.
But Lacson, chairman of the Senate committee on public order, said he would appeal to Senator Gringo Honasan, chairman of the committee on national defense, to also raise the pension of 200,000 retirees.
“I’m appealing to Senator Honasan if it’s possible to adopt as well the inclusion of [the increase in the pension] of pensioners and if ever it is adopted in the bicam, it’s up to the President if he wants to veto it. At least we tried,” Lacson said.
He said the P38 billion incremental pension for retirees was only a little over 1 percent of the proposed P3.7-trillion national budget next year.
Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon has proposed to allocate an additional P464 million for the construction of barracks for military personnel.
He earlier pointed to the need for additional barracks or housing for the military, citing the shortage of quarters in the country’s military camps that had constrained some military personnel to sleep in their offices.