Duterte signs EO for financial grant to CAFGUs

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte has ordered the release of over P130 million for a monthly P2,000 financial grant for each member of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) to recognize their contributions to the government’s fight against insurgency and local terrorism.

Under Executive Order 94, Duterte pushed for the grant of financial support starting July 1 this year for every member of the CAFGU Active Auxiliary (CAA).   

Only duly appointed members of the CAA units appearing in the roster maintained by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and those who are actually rendering services shall be entitled to the financial support. 

The estimate of P139 million was not placed in the executive order but computed based on the number of CAFGU submitted by the AFP during deliberations of their budget at the House of Representatives. 

The recipients also cover those undergoing training as of the effective date. They shall be entitled to a prorated portion of the financial support upon satisfactory completion of the prescribed training. 

“The funding requirements for the grant of financial support to qualified members of the CAA units shall be sourced from the current year’s available appropriations. The funding requirements for the succeeding years shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, subject to the submission of the actual number of qualified CAA members to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM),” the EO said. 

Duterte directed the DBM and the Department of National Defense (DND) to jointly issue appropriate guidelines to implement the order.   

In the EO, the Palace noted that the CAFGU was created under EO 265 (series 1987), which mobilized the CAA. As such, the CAA units were formed to complement and support the regular forces of the AFP in dealing with external and internal security threats. 

In recognition of the invaluable service of CAA units, the government granted them financial support of P7,000 each to cover the months of November and December 2018. 

The DBM was then directed to recommend appropriate measures to ensure the monthly grant of financial support to members of the CAA units through fiscally sustainable and compliant budgeting, accounting and auditing procedures. 

The order was deemed to take effect immediately. 

Under the proposed defense budget for next year, the DND sought P235 billion for the payment of salaries of personnel and the pensions of war veterans and retired soldiers.

Reports said about P188.65 billion will be part of the DND regular fund, with P119.21 billion or about 46 percent of the total budget earmarked for personnel services, while P40.7 billion will go to maintenance and other operating expenses.   

About P28.83 billion will fund various projects for capital outlay. The budget for personnel services will cover 148,668 uniformed personnel; 69,938 CAFGU members and 12,400 civilian employees.