Retirees’ pension in danger of being ‘axed’ from ‘Bayanihan 3’

THE congressional ‘insertion’ under the proposed ‘Bayanihan 3’ mandating the allocation of at least P54 billion to pay for the pension of military retirees is in danger of being axed during the proposal’s deliberation in the Upper Chamber.

This was the possibility aired by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, after noting that some of his colleagues consider the House insertion a “sore thumb” under Bayanihan 3.

The inclusion of the amount under the Pension and Gratuity Fund (PGF) of the military, the police and other law enforcement agencies, including the retirees of the Namria (National Mapping and Resource Information Authority) was pushed by House Speaker Lord Alan Velasco and other congressional leaders as a “supplemental budget” to cover the PGF’s pension differential for 2018.

In an interview last May 15, 2021, Sotto noted that the House and Senate versions under the ‘Bayanihan to Rebuild as One’ (Bayanihan 3) did not diverge from each other very much except for the question raised by some senators as to why the pension for MUPs (military and uniformed personnel) are included in the former’s version.

“Bakit nakapasok doon yung pension ng Armed Forces? So ‘yun ang tatanungin namin, Sotto said.

Sotto said while the total figure for the proposed round of assistance to Filipinos due to the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the growing consensus among them is to remove the allocation for the AFP retirement payment and allocate it elsewhere in order to avoid accusation of ‘gerrymandering’ (the term originally refer to the manipulation of electoral boundaries to favor one political party).

“More or less (the proposed amount is the same). Baka mas malaki ng konti yung sa Senate, pero aalisin yung sa pension. Baka sa ibang bagay ilagay yung pension hindi dito. Baka mapagbintangan ng gerrymandering eh,” Sotto explained.

Cash grant for Filipinos

Sotto further elaborated that under the House version, P216 billion would come in the form of ‘cash grants’ “regardless of age or social status” amounting to P2,000 per beneficiary. He added that the House is proposing a total of P405 billion with P30 billion going to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which is a “separate assistance” broken down to P10,000 for each household or family who fell victim to Covid-19.

P35 billion was also proposed to be given to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for the benefit of displaced workers and another P20 billion for wage subsidies.

Sotto said the House also proposed to allocate P30 billion for the agri-fisheries sector, P5 billion for the Department of Education and P9 billion for the Department of Health.

He said that while they mainly of the House version, still the question is the insertion of P54 billion for military retirees.

While agreeing with the majority of the House version, Sotto said the Senate version would be “quite higher” as they proposed P110 billion “for procurement of Covid-19 medications, vaccines, handling of the vaccines, hiring of contact tracers, testing and treatment under PhilHealth, payment of the actual hazard pay of frontline health workers” and, P100 billion for worker subsidies.