Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said the pension of uniformed personnel has long been overdue. He also said that he will wait for the “version” of this administration and examine their approach to the problem.
Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said the same legislative proposal was tackled by the Senate during the last Congress, but only at the committee level due to lack of time. He also said this issue is “for serious study and deliberations.”
Perhaps this time, Dela Rosa said, the pension program will materialize since most Senators are agreeable to that proposal.
Sought to comment on the same issue, Senator Francis Tolentino said there are better financial minds that can initially react to the proposal. “I haven’t read it well. There are even talks of SSS come 2030 or 2032,” he said.
The Marcos Jr. administration earlier said it is planning to implement reforms in the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) retirement and pension system to avoid a “fiscal collapse” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In particular, the reforms would end automatic pensions for servicemen after 20 years in the service, and instead start their pension at 57 years old (a year after their mandatory retirement age), and pensioners would no longer receive payouts indexed to the salary of active personnel of single ranks.
The pension fund covers personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, Philippine Public Safety College, Philippine Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Corrections.
In a Palace press briefing, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also expressed support for two other proposals:
• The reform to apply to all active personnel and new entrants; and
• Mandatory contributions will be required for active personnel and new entrants, similar to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) pensioners.
Diokno cited issues in the current pension system, such as how it is non-contributory – meaning retirement pensions and benefits are fully funded by the national government through annual appropriations despite having no contribution from the retirees.
Under the proposed new pension scheme, the Department of Finance chief said “all those who are in active service and the new recruits will have to pay.”
He said should these reforms take place, automatic indexation of pension to the salary of active personnel of similar ranks must be removed.
Diokno said he also found it “ridiculous” that when military and uniformed personnel who choose to retire as early as 40 years old get pensions up to age 90.
To date, Diokno said both Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. have agreed with all four proposals.
Asked how much military and uniformed personnel will be contributing to the new MUP pension system, the DOF chief said it will be a “gradual” contribution.
Meanwhile, Diokno was also hopeful that the Marcos administration would succeed in pushing for the proposed reforms in the MUP retirement and pension system in Congress.
“Mr. Marcos also has a very strong control of both houses of Congress so it’s going to be less problematic for him to push forward such a major reform,” he added. With Charles Dantes