Palace backs bid to double salaries of police, military

Malacañang has endorsed a draft resolution seeking to double the base salaries of government security forces by 2018.

Under the draft resolution, a Police Officer 1 will receive a monthly pay of P29,668, double his current salary of P14,834.

The Office of the President approved on September 20 the draft resolution prepared by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). The resolution still needs to be approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Aside from policemen with the rank of PO1, others who will see their salaries doubled are: soldiers with the rank of Private under the Department of Defense; and equivalent ranks in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Public Safety College, Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

The Provisional and Officers’ Allowances will no longer be part of the compensation of military and uniformed personnel (MUP) since these are granted as an interim measure pending the modification of the base pay schedule.

The DBM, in a statement, said the overall adjustments would result in 58.7 percent average increase in base pay for all MUP ranks. The adjustments are proposed to take effect on January 1, 2018.

The budget department also said the proposed pay increase would cost P63.4 billion, which would be financed from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund and from any available allotment in the respective budgets of concerned agencies.