The chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on appropriations on Monday said his panel would consider the President’s request for additional soldiers, policemen, firefighters and jail guards which would require at least P14 billion in funds.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, the panel chairman, said part of the amount was already incorporated in the 2018 P3.767-trillion national expenditure program, distributed among the various uniformed services.
“It is safe to say that that out of the computed requirement, P14 billion is already specifically provided in the proposed 2018 budget,” Nograles said.
If approved without any amendment, Nograles said that this would allow the Philippine National Police to hire 10,000 additional policemen, 2,000 additional personnel for the Bureau of Fire Protection, and 1,000 jail guards for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
“As to the additional soldiers, we already created in 2017 for the Philippine Army 8,892 positions, which we are currently filling up,” Nograles added.
Apart from the salaries of the additional uniformed personnel, the P14 billion will also cover funding for uniforms, firearms, rifles, ammunition, gears, training and other expenses needed for new recruits.
“For salaries alone, the total basic pay for the creation of 10,000 police officer PO1 positions will entail around P1.78 billion. The creation of 20,000 soldiers may cost a total basic pay amounting to around P3.56 Billion,” Nograles explained.
Nograles said President Duterte’s request for thousands of new uniformed personnel is cognizant of the increasing security challenges amid threats of terrorism and other forms of lawlessness.
“The Marawi crisis, the ongoing war against drugs and other forms of criminality that threaten the peace and security of the people are compelling reasons for us to prioritize the augmentation of our military and law enforcement personnel and the modernization of their weapons and equipment,” Nograles said.
If needed, Nograles said that his committee will support the creation of new positions for uniformed personnel depending on the requirement of President Duterte.
“If there’s still a need to recruit additional soldiers to beef up the ongoing anti-terrorism efforts, we will surely consider the hiring of more soldiers next year,” Nograles said.