Retired officers in House bats for vets’ pension

FORMER military and police officers in Congress are pushing to include the pensions of veterans and retired military and uniformed personnel in the coverage of the proposed Salary Standardization Law (SSL) of 2015.

House Resolution No. 2547, which calls for their inclusion, was principally authored by Magdalo Representatives Gary C. Alejano and Francisco Ashley L. Acedillo; Pangasinan Rep. Leopoldo N. Bataoil, ACT-CIS Rep. Samuel D. Pagdilao and Antipolo Rep. Romeo M. Acop.

The resolution is currently pending at the House Committee on Appropriations.

The SSL will be implemented starting Jan. 1 next year.

The five lawmakers said the SSL only covered the current 1.53 million civilian, military and uniformed personnel of the national government and excluded the pension of military and uniformed personnel.

Same privileges

They said the failure to correct this situation would undermine existing laws that entitle retired military and uniformed personnel the same privileges as those in the active duty.

They noted that another bill (House Bill No. 6268) seeks to suspend the “indexation” provision of the current retirement law, which raises the retirees’ benefits whenever the salaries of active soldiers are upgraded.

“As representatives of the people, it is high time that we stand up in behalf of our veterans, and retired military and uniformed personnel to show our utmost appreciation and respect to them for risking their lives to protect our country. We urge the members of the House of Representatives to include our veterans and retired military and uniformed personnel in the SSL 2015 coverage,” the lawmakers said.