DND asserts AFP enlisted personnel should retire at 56

The Department of National Defense (DND) on Thursday said the retirement age for the enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) should stay at 56.

During a hearing of the Senate committee on national defense about a bill increasing the mandatory retirement age for military personnel, Undersecretary Cardozo Luna said this is the position of the DND.

"The main reason is to keep our Armed Forces young, especially the enlisted personnel.We have to keep our Armed Forces young just like the armed forces of other countries," he said.

"As of now, the average age of our enlisted personnel is already 47. This is too old," he added.

He also recommended a provision for a maximum tenure of grade for enlisted personnel to keep the "lower rank of the pyramid as young as possible so that our cutting edge, the fighting force, we have young enlisted personnel."

"You will be attrited if you are not promoted to the next higher grade," he added.

Enlisted personnel are those having the ranks of Private up to First Chief Master Sergeant, according to the bill.

Senator Richard Gordon, presiding over the hearing, said he talked to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and the latter gave him the same position.

Proponents of the measure said the increased retirement age of military personnel could help in easing the government's expenses on their retirement benefits.

The retirement age for commissioned officers will be 62 while the AFP chief of staff retire at 65, according to the bill in progress.

But Luna said a colonel should be allowed to retire at 56 too if he has reached the maximum tenure of nine years and is not going to be promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

"Those going beyond colonels can go beyond 56 and the chief of staff can go up to 65," Luna said.

"A full colonel must retire at 56...That doesn't help the pension plan too much diba? Kung 56 'yan eh napakabata," Gordon replied.

The panel has approved the proposed measure on first reading. It will be taken up in plenary for further debates and amendments.—LDF, GMA News