The economic
team held back-to-back
consultations with members of the Philippine
Coast Guard (PCG) and
Philippine Army (PA) to
further discuss and refine the proposed Military
and Uniformed Personnel
(MUP) Pension Reform
Bill on Friday, June 9,
2023.
“When we started the roadshow, ibangiba po ang proposals
namin. Pero dahil nakikinig kami, nag-iba na po ang
mga proposals. Yung mga
makikita nyo po ngayon,
this has been the product
of various consultations
with stakeholders,” said
Department of Finance
(DOF) Undersecretary
Maria Luwalhati C. Dorotan Tiuseco.
[When we started
the roadshow, our proposals were very different. But
because we are listening, the proposals have
changed. The presentation you will see today
has been the product of
various consultations with
stakeholders.]
The revisions
were applied to address
concerns and recommendations gathered by the
economic team in the past
six (6) consultations with
various MUP services.
Deputy Treasurer
Erwin D. Sta. Ana emphasized the government’s
commitment to finding a
“healthy balance” between
ensuring the sustainability of the MUP pension
system and upholding the
welfare of enlisted personnel.
Some members
of the PCG sought clarifications on the applicability
of the reforms while others
offered suggestions to further improve the proposed
packages for optional retirement.
Meanwhile, PA
officers openly expressed
their sentiments to the
representatives from the
DOF, Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), Government
Service Insurance System
(GSIS), Department of National Defense (DND), and
Senate of the Philippines.
The government
representatives assured
the officers that their concerns and suggestions will
continue to be taken into
consideration in an effort
to improve the current proposal and arrive at a mutually acceptable version of
the bill.
“[Our proposals]
will be better because of
your participation,” said
Undersecretary Dorotan
Tiuseco.
DOF Undersecretary Maria Cielo D.
Magno also allayed fears
of several members of the
MUP by clarifying that the
military pension is only
one of many areas of reform the government is
currently reviewing.
“I want to assure
all of you na hindi lang
po yung military [pension]
reform ang tinitingnan
natin para maibsan yung
kasikipan ng kalagayang
pampinansyal ng gobyerno. Kaninang umaga lang
po nag-identify tayo ng
walong (8) bagong reporma para masiguradong
matutustusan ang mga
pangangailangan ng budget next year.”
[I want to assure
all of you that the military
pension reform is not the
only one we are looking at
to ease the tight financial
conditions of the government. Just this morning
we identified eight (8) new
reforms to ensure that we
will be able to finance all
the needs of our budget
for next year.]
These reforms
include the rationalization
of government bureaucracy to make it more efficient
and other mechanisms to
raise revenues, according
to Undersecretary Magno.
The consultation
with the PA drew the largest crowd so far, with approximately 20,000 participants joining the dialogue
online and on-site at the
Philippine Army Officers
Clubhouse, Taguig City.
To date, the economic team has held a total of nine (9) consultative
discussions with members
from the PA, Philippine
Air Force (PAF), Presidential Security Group
(PSG), Philippine Navy
(PN), Philippine National
Police (PNP), AFP Health
Service Command (AFPHSC), PCG, and Bureau
of Jail Management and
Penology (BJMP).
The administration bill is
expected to be finished in
time for the resumption of
Congress’ session in July
- DOF.GOV
