DBM identifies P44B to partly fund 100% pay hike of cops and soldiers in 2018

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has pinpointed where to source P44 billion to partly cover the salary increase of soldiers and policemen starting next year, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Wednesday.

"We have already identified some P44 billion kung saan kukunin, which is from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Funds (MPBF)," Diokno said during a breakfast forum with reporters in Pasig City.

In the proposed 2018 budget, the MPBF amounts to P84.446 billion. The fund is intended to pay for the benefits of government personnel as well as the creation of other positions in the bureaucracy.

Diokno earlier said the pay increase of the uniformed services will cost the government an additional P63.4 billion.

"So meron pang P20 billion na kailangang hanapin doon sa 2018 budget," Diokno said.

"They said ... the House ... has already agreed to tap some funds in the 2018 budget proposal to augment what is necessary, 'yung P20 billion," he added.

The Budget chief, however, did not identify which government agencies will be affected by the realignment of the 2018 appropriations.

"I cannot disclose pa since nasa conference committee pa 'yan," Diokno said.

In late September, the Office of the President has concurred with a draft Congress Joint Resolution aimed at doubling the salaries of entry-level policemen as well as soldiers by next year.

Once approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives, the resolution will double the base pay of a police officer (PO) 1 in the Philippine National Police, a private in the Department of National 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 DBM said.

Diokno gave the assurance that the promise of President Rodrigo Duterte to double the salaries of uniformed personnel will happen next year.

"Itaga mo sa bato, talagang gagawin namin ito sa January 1, 2018," he said. — VDS, GMA News