Retired soldiers, cops rally for pension differentials

The Department of Budget and Management has already released P22.3 billion to cover June to December 2019.

Retired military and police officers on Monday trooped to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and staged a protest rally over the delayed release of their pension differentials.

The almost 100 retired officials, including relatives of deceased military and uniformed personnel (MUP), were demanding the DBM to release the differentials and lump sums of their pensions for the period of January to December 2018 and January to May 2019.

The Budget department last month announced it has already released P22.3 billion for the pension differential funds of MUP from the Department of National Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Mapping and Resource Information Authority and the Philippine Coast Guard covering the period from June to December 2019.

However, in an earlier statement, DBM said that no differentials will be paid for fiscal year 2018 as the indexation of the pension of retired MUP with the base pay of those in active service was suspended that time.

The said suspension was lifted on 1 January 2019.

Payment for the period of January to May 2019, meanwhile, “will be acted upon separately, subject to the availability of funds.”

It was on 1 January 2018 when President Rodrigo Duterte approved the joint resolution of Congress increasing the base pay of all MUP.

With the enactment, the MUP pension requirements are automatically indexed to the current base pay scheme for MUP in active service, pursuant to Presidential Decree 1638 and Republic Acts 5976, 8551 and 9263.