Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday assured that President Rodrigo Duterte will be making good of his promise of doubling the base pay of military and uniformed personnel by next year, as they await for the concurrence of Congress to push with the proposal.
In a news briefing, Diokno said that some P63.4 billion will be needed in the first year of implementation to increase the salaries of soldiers, police, firefighters and jail guards.
“The commitment is to double the salaries of soldiers by January 1, 2018. We are doing everything to follow our commitments. We need a joint resolution from both Houses of Congress to implement this policy decision,” Diokno said.
Once approved, the resolution will double the base pay of a Police Officer 1 in the Philippine National Police, a Private in the Department of National Defense, and equivalent ranks in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Public Safety College, Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.
A PO1 will enjoy a 100-percent increase in monthly Base Pay from the current 14,834 pesos to 29,668 pesos.
Overall, the adjustments will result to a 58.7-percent average increase in Base Pay for all MUP ranks, effective January 1, 2018.
Increases, however, were rank-sensitive, Diokno said, adding that the joint Congress resolution had clauses preventing the increase in pension rates, which will remain in their 2016 rates.
The proposed base pay hike is on top of the second tranche of the Salary Standardization (Executive Order No. 201, s. 2016), which increases the compensation of government employees, including military and uniformed personnel, Diokno said.
Diokno denied that they are “pampering” the military and uniformed personnel, a sector seen highly favored by the President.
Diokno said that state teachers were paid twice compared to their private sector counterparts, while government health workers receive three times more than what the private sectors receive.
“Besides, they’re the ones going to the battlefield ready to die,” he said.
In 2016, the PNP and AFP likewise received greater benefits due to an increase in the allowances through Executive Order No. 3, increasing the combat duty pay and combat incentive pay of soldiers and policemen.