Azurin echoes Marcos belief military and uniformed personnel who retire early should get their pension
Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. believed that the military and uniformed (MUP) personnel who will choose to retire early should start to receive their pension upon the approval of their retirement.
"This is what President Ferdinand Marcos said that maybe these personnel who will optionally retire should be entitled to start receiving their
pension and gratuity upon the approval of the retirement. There is no need to reach the age of 56 or 57 before you receive it, because the police and soldiers also work for it. That's why immediately upon the approval of their optional retirement they start getting their pensions," he said.
This is one of the reforms that Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno mentioned during the Palace briefing last Tuesday, saying that receiving pension after an early retirement is "ridiculous".
"Pension can be received after 20 years of service with no minimum pensionable age. So some of them get recruited at the age of 20 so they can already retire at the age 40, okay. And you know how long their lives are, right? Military people, they live longer than us, okay, some at the age of 90, okay. So, they retire at 40 to get their pension up to age 90. Isn’t that ridiculous? So we want to reform them," Diokno said.
For his part, Azurin said "the government should strike a balance between what is appropriate so that it will not be difficult for the government."
"If there is a need for the members of the police and military to contribute then there should be a balance that it should be affordable for the police and military," he said.
During the briefing, Diokno has enumerated four proposals which include the application of the reform to "all active personnel and new entrance. So once the new system is adopted, all those who are in active service and the new recruits will have to pay their way; no longer free."
He also noted the "removal of automatic indexation of pension to the salary of active personnel of single ranks". He said "the military/uniformed personnel will receive their pension starting at 56 years old, or now it’s now adjusted to 57 years old" and that "the mandatory contributions will be required for active personnel and new entrance similar to the GSIS pensioners."
Diokno said if the reforms will not be implemented "there will come a time when the current budget will only be about a third, one-third, or one-fourth of the money that we’re paying for the pensioners".
"We have to really address that issue. It’s not sustainable. I said, if this goes on, there will be a fiscal collapse," he said. Robina Asido/DMS
