President Aquino signed on Friday last week a joint resolution earlier passed by Congress increasing to P150 from P90 the daily subsistence allowance of all officers men in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), as well as the uniformed personnel of the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria.)
Among those covered by the approved pay-hike scheme are officers, enlisted personnel, candidate soldiers, probationary second lieutenants, cadets and civilian active auxiliaries of the AFP, PNP, the BFP, the BJMP, PNPA, PCG and Namria.
According to Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, the President has signed the joint resolution increasing their daily subsistence allowance “effective January 1, 2015.”
“One of [its] whereas clauses is that the current subsistence allowance of P90 per day is no longer adequate to meet the basic needs of Filipino military soldiers and uniformed personnel of the DILG [Department of the Interior and Local Government], DOTC [Department of Transportation and Communications]-PCG and the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources]-Namria in view of the increasing prices of basic commodities. Hence, it was increased from P90 to P150,” Lacierda said.
He added that the Department of National Defense, in coordination with the AFP, the DILG-PNP, the BFP, BJMP, PNPA, PCG and NAMRIA, shall promulgate and “immediately issue the rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of the resolution.”
Lacierda added that the amount necessary to implement the provisions of the resolution shall be charged against the savings of the DND, DOTC, DILG, and DENR-Namria for the current year and/or the miscellaneous personnel benefits fund or the MPBF. “Thereafter, such amount as may be necessary for its continued implementation shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA),” he added.