Soldiers, 4Ps beneficiaries to get rice allowance

MANILA, Philippines – Soldiers and the more than four million household beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps will receive a monthly rice allowance, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said yesterday.

In a television interview, Diokno said the rice allowance is a way of fulfilling the promise of President Duterte of additional compensation to military personnel.

“We have funds to fulfill the President’s SONA (State of the Nation Address) promises,” Diokno said.

He did not say when soldiers and 4Ps beneficiaries will start getting their rice allowance and how much it will be.

Visiting a military camp on Tuesday, Duterte reiterated his commitment to double the salaries of soldiers and policemen.

Diokno said another way of increasing the salaries of military and police personnel is to reduce income tax.

Diokno reiterated his call for a Malacañang and congressional review of the pension system in the military and the police.

He said nearly 80 percent of funds allotted to police and military organizations every year goes to pension.

“We are spending more for the pension of retired personnel than for the salaries of those in active service. This is the elephant in the room that the previous administrations ignored. We now have to confront it,” he said.

Diokno earlier said there are no funds in the proposed P3.35-trillion 2017 national budget to fulfill Duterte’s promise of doubling the salaries of soldiers and policemen.

He noted that government workers received the first tranche of their salary increase this year.                      

He was referring to the adjustment authorized under Executive Order 201 issued in February by former president Benigno Aquino III.

Under the order, the basic pay of the lowest paid state worker with salary grade 1, went up by about P500 while the salary of the president with salary grade  33, increased by P41,000.