AFP, civilian workers get raise pledged by Aquino

MANILA, Philippines - The uniformed services and civilian employees of the military received the raise promised to them by the Aquino administration, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced yesterday.

The raise was not reflected in their base pay, but in their monthly provisional allowance.

It was former president Benigno Aquino III who devised a compensation package for active soldiers and policemen by issuing Executive Order 201, which increased their monthly allowance and hazard pay.

President Duterte promised to double the salaries of soldiers and policemen, but this failed to materialize due to lack of funds to bankroll the increase.

As mandated by law, raising the base pay of soldiers and policemen will require the government to also raise the monthly pensions of military and police retirees. 

When Aquino was president, he went around the law by issuing EO 201. 

Under EO 201, the monthly allowance comes in four tranches. The first tranche took effect late last year and the second tranche this month.

A soldier with the rank of Technical Sergeant got P1,196 in the first tranche and P1,275 in the second tranche.

Aside from raise in provisional allowance, soldiers also stand to receive an increase in hazard pay this year amounting to P540 as compared to last year’s P390.   

In 2018, the soldiers’ hazard pay is programmed to be raised to P690 and to P840 in 2019.