Legarda: Pay Hike for Soldiers, Police, Funded Under 2018 Budget

Senator Loren Legarda today said that the increase in base pay of military and uniformed personnel in the government is funded under the 2018 national budget.

Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance and co-sponsor of the Joint Resolution Authorizing the Increase in the Base Pay of Military and Uniformed Personnel in the Government, said that under the 2018 General Appropriations Act (GAA), Php62.8 Billion was allocated under the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) for the increase in the base pay of military and uniformed personnel.

“This is good news for our soldiers, policemen and other uniformed personnel in government because they will now receive the long overdue salary increase that they deserve,” said Legarda, a reserve officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The base pay schedule of military and uniformed personnel was last increased eight years ago.

“We cannot overemphasize the value of the arduous mission our soldiers and policemen have to undertake in order to maintain peace and order by protecting the people and the State from lawless violence, invasion, rebellion, terrorist acts and other activities that might affect public safety and bring harm to the independence of our nation. It is about time that their base pay is increased to better compensate for the hazards they face in the course of performing their duties,” she added.

The modified base pay schedule applies to all military personnel under the Department of National Defense (DND) and uniformed personnel under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA).