Some enlisted men from the Special Forces and Scout Ranger, in a circulating text message, questioned the new proposal which they said is “very inimical” to their well-being as soldiers.

Enlisted personnel compose 90 percent of the 125,000-strong Armed Forces.

But retired Vice Adm. Emilio Marayag, president and chief operating officer of the RSBS, explained that the new proposal, if approved, will not affect the existing servicemen, although there was no mention about this in his letter-proposal dated June 2, 2011, to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.

“I would like to stress that the new system would be applicable to new entrants and will not affect those already in the service and those receiving pension,” Marayag clarified.

Marayag failed, however, to explain the fact that every EP is in essence a contractual soldier because he or she has to renew his or her contract every three years.

“If I failed to get a new three-year contract, then I’m out of the service. If I’ll get a renewal, then I’m new in the service again, that’s plain and simple,” an EP who requested anonimity said.

Some of the proposals include raising the mandatory retirement age of 56 to 58 and lengthening the compulsory retirement to 25 from the current 20 years in service. Pension and benefits of a soldier would no longer be based on the pay of the next higher rank upon retirement.

It also wants to decrease the survivors benefits from 75 percent to 50 percent. Another feature in the proposal is that the RSBS wants the automatic indexation be removed from the present law to save more money.

Based on rough estimate, a staff sergeant and a master sergeant stand to lose P1.3 million and P1.5 million, respectively, upon retirement under the new system.

“It [automatic indexation] doesn’t mean there will be no more increases. We will task the Board of Trustees to determine the rate of increase of pension. We like to remove the provision that each time soldiers in the active service receive pay increases, pension of retired personnel also increase. We wish to remove that so the expectations of those who think we have arrears would be eliminated,” Marayag said.

Former officials of the RSBS are facing criminal and administrative charges before the anti-graft court for alleged corruption and mismanagement of funds of the institution that led to its bankruptcy less than a decade ago.

In a position paper hand-carried to the media signed by a senior member of the Agfo, Brig. Gen. Angel Sadang, the association expressed apprehension that the proposed pension law will solve the “pension woes of the unsung heroes because, in fact, [it] contains inimical features” against retirees and pensioners.

“Sadly, there seems to be little hope that the present crop of retirees will have a better pension system in the future. The PPMPS is essentially laden with unacceptable features adverse to the economic welfare and financial security of retirees and pensioners. Some features ignore vested rights, equal protection, and social justice clauses of the Constitution and other existing laws on pension,” it said.

Agfo said the accumulated pension differential arrearages (PDA) from January 2000 to June 2010, October to December 2010 and June 2011 to the present have already reached more than P16 billion.

“The amount will, likewise, rise to unsupportable proportions unless the fund outlay to settle the PDA is programmed annually in the Appropriations Act and given priority over other less urgent programs by the national leadership. The government is mandated to comply with the laws on pension of military personnel, the most compelling of which is the Constitution. The latest is Congress Joint Resolution 4, s-09 which authorizes the payment of the third tranche of the pension increases,” it said.

Agfo blames the pension woes to the failure of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to provide the fund outlay of the PDA over the past year and thus ignoring the provisions of the Constitutions and other pertinent laws that left the defense department and AFP to utilize savings, if there is any, to fund pension increases but not on a regular basis.

The association also took note of some contributory factors to the pension woes, such as the increase in number of headquarters and units and upgrading of the rank structure of both the officers and EPs resulting in further increases in funds for Personnel Services, neglect of the optimum utilization of the Citizen Armed Force concept which could have reduce the number of pensioners, assigning sizable number of active duty personnel to Armed Forces Commissary Exchange Services units and recreational facilities and sidelining of cost-effective alternative because regular officers are mainly sourced from the Philippine Military Academy  which entails a big budget rather than earmarking the bulk to officer candidate schools with candidates sourced from the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

Thus, Agfo stressed that instead of working for the enactment of another pension law, the DBM should not circumvent the government’s mandatory obligation to pay military retirees and pensioners.

It also recommended to place the retirement benefits under the administration of a separate agency and not under the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces and retain the present RSBS with certain amendments rather than craft a new one and also implement on a rotation basis ready reserve units to perform certain missions given to the regular forces for cost effectiveness.