House committee eyeing higher pensions for retired military personnel

THE House of Representatives is looking to raise pensions received by retired military and uniformed personnel (MUPs) by 2019, one of its committees said. “The commitment of Malacañang, which is the guiding policy of the House of Representatives that possesses the power of the purse, is to adjust the pension of retirees in the MUP sector by 2019,” House appropriations committee chair and Davao City Representative Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said. “We’ve been preparing for the pension indexation as early as this year. So we definitely don’t intend to disappoint our retirees in 2019,” Mr. Nograles said. Mr. Nograles said the pensions will be calibrated to be on a par with the increased compensation of their active counterparts and is seen to benefit 200,000 retirees and will cost the government an estimated amount of P38 billion. The House and the Senate approved the hike of the base pay of MUPs before their one-month holiday break. The base pay of the officials with the rank of police officer 1 in Philippine National Police and private in Armed Forces of the Philippines were doubled and the compensation for officials in higher ranks was also increased accordingly. — Minde Nyl dela Cruz