THE government’s economic team has made some adjustments to improve proposals for the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) pension reform after initial talks with the Armed Forces, Philippine Air Force and the Presidential Security Group (PSG).
In a statement, the Department of Finance said Maria Luwalhati Dorotan Tiuseco, finance undersecretary, presented the economic team’s latest proposal during the dialogue with the AFP Health Service Command (HSC) last June 2.
Under the enhanced proposal, MUPs who avail of optional retirement are given the prerogative to choose among three options in claiming pension benefits.
The options are to receive pension benefits in one lump sum upon retirement; get 60 months advance, then payment of monthly pension benefits will kick in after five years; or receive pension benefits at age 57.
The DOF said the new options were proposed in consideration of varying financial situations among MUPs and will be applied on a case-to-case basis.
Maria Cielo Magno, DOF undersecretary, assured MUPs that the economic team has been given the directive to study the current pension systems of other government branches enjoying similar pension benefits, amid pension sustainability concerns.
Prior to the HSC, the economic team held a dialogue with the PSG last May 26.
After four dialogues with the military, the economic team is scheduled to meet with uniformed personnel, starting with the PNP on June 7.
“The economic team will continue to gather sentiments of the MUPs and introduce necessary improvements to the proposal in order to craft a well-balanced solution,” the DOF said.
