Legarda Wants 100% Increase in Soldiers’ Allowance

Senator Loren Legarda has proposed a 100 percent increase in the subsistence allowance of Filipino soldiers as well as an augmentation in their combat duty pay.

Legarda, Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, filed a bill to double the subsistence allowance of officers and enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from P90 per day to P180 per day. She also proposed the increase of combat duty pay from P500.00 per month to an amount equivalent to 25 percent of their base pay.

“The hard reality is that our uniformed personnel remain among the lowest paid public servants. The dangerous circumstances under which they sometimes perform their duties in the combat zone entitles them to additional remuneration in the form of combat pay and of subsistence allowance,” she said.

“The AFP is the protector of the people and is tasked to secure the integrity of the national territory. With the enormity of these duties, we need to uphold professionalism in the AFP and ensure the adequate remuneration of its members,” she added.

The additional amount needed to implement the measure will be charged against the savings of the Department of National Defense for the first year of implementation. In the succeeding years, it will be included in the national budget.