Cops’ Jan. 15 payroll to reflect up to 100% wage increase

Policemen are set to receive higher salaries starting January 15 after President Rodrigo Duterte signed Joint Resolution No. 1, authorizing the increase in the base pay of military and uniformed personnel.

Under the new scheme, a Police Officer 1 (PO1) would receive P29,668 monthly base pay – a 100 percent increase from the current P14,834.

Meanwhile, an average increase of 58.70 percent for all other police ranks would also be realized beginning this January 15, Philippine National Poilce (PNP) spokesperson Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos said in a press briefing on Thursday.

The modified base pay schedule to be applied to all uniformed personnel under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) that would be implemented in two tranches until 2019, are as follows:

Data from PNP

Data from PNP

Data from PNP

Police Chief Supt. Joselito Vera Cruz, of the PNP-Directorate for Comptrollership, admitted that the agency’s budget could not accommodate a doubled increase in base salary across all police ranks.

“Apparently hindi kaya ng budget natin na double the salary lahat ng ranks. Pero as you can see, ‘yung lowest ranking police officers ang ating binigyan ng priority,” he told reporters in press briefing.

But, he pointed out, this increase in base pay and decrease in income tax under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law should nevertheless translate to good service from police officers.

“Siguro yung mga pulis natin ngayon na gumagawa ng kalokohan maiisip nila yung mawawala sa kanila. Mahirap makahanap ng trabaho na ganyan ang sweldo,” Vera Cruz said.

“Dapat sa mga kapulisan suklian natin ang pinapakitang concern ng ating Congress, at pag-ibayuhin pa ang serbisyo,” he added.

Below is the new monthly tax comparison of policemen:

Data from PNP

Data from PNP

Around 76,000 POs1 or majority of their 182,000 members would benefit from the 100 percent increase in base pay, Carlos said, noting that they still need 21,000 additional policemen.

Meanwhile, Vera Cruz said the approved joint resolution also provides for the discontinuance of the provisional allowance and the officers allowance of police officials.

Nevertheless, he said, the increase in base pay would increase other allowances, which are granted as a percentage of base pay (e.g. longevity pay, flying pay, sea duty pay, instructor’s duty pay), and would also result to higher benefits upon retirement.

“This would be advantageous lalo na sa magre-retire kasi their pension would be computed based on the current rate,” Vera Cruz said.

On the other hand, Vera Cruz said that policemen’s hazard pay is now pegged at P540 per month.                 /kga