Rules for higher pay for uniformed men out

MANILA, Philippines — With the P3.7-trillion national budget for 2019 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, military and uniformed personnel can now receive higher pay as mandated under the Congress Joint Resolution No. 1 issued last year.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) officer in charge Janet B. Abuel on Tuesday issued the implementing guidelines for the second tranche of pay increase for uniformed personnel.

Covered by the higher base pay are all military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as well as uniformed personnel of the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Public Safety College, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Bureau of Corrections, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

The modified base pay schedule should have taken effect on Jan. 1, but was delayed by the budget impasse in Congress.

The DBM, nonetheless, ordered the increase in monthly base pay rates for incumbent military and uniformed personnel whose ranks range between first chief master sergeant, senior police officer 4 and their equivalents, and the highest ranks of general and director general.

“The hazard pay of all military and uniformed personnel shall continually be fixed at P540 per month,” the DBM said.

Funds for the pay increase “shall be charged against their respective agency budgets for personnel services,” it added.