Teodoro hopes Congress will enact MUP pension reform bill soon

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. on Thursday expressed hope that Congress will soon enact a bill on the reform of the pension system for military and uniformed personnel (MUP).

“Numero uno ang marching order ng ating Presidente [Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.] ay makalatag agad ng bagong pension system para sa Armed Forces," said Teodoro in an interview on Unang Balita.

(The primary marching order of the President is to establish a new pension system for the Armed Forces.)

“Ito ay tinatrabaho na, kinokonsulta na at sana sa madaling panahon ay mai-enact ng ating Kongreso at mapirmahan ng ating Pangulo,” he added.

(We are working on it and consulting about it. I hope that as soon as possible, Congress will act on it and the President will sign it.)

Teodoro said details of the MUP pension reform are still being studied.

“Ang kuwestiyon ay sino at magkano (the question is who and how much)? Yun ang mga (Those are the) questions coming from the financial sector,” he said.

The proposed reform of the MUP pension includes the removal of automatic indexation in pension and the imposition of mandatory contributions on military personnel.

Currently, there are two bills on MUP pension reform that have already been filed in the Senate.

Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who leads the deliberations on the bills seeking reforms in the MUP pension system in the Senate, said he will "definitely work and cooperate" with the DND.

Estrada said he will talk to Teodoro personally with regards to the proposed MUP pension reforms.

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, a retired policeman himself, expressed optimism that Teodoro will "not just relegate the MUPs to the level of an insignificant government employee," noting that the Defense secretary is not new to the plight of the uniformed personnel as he held the same position in the previous administration.

In March, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said Marcos is "okay" with the proposal to reform the pension system for the MUP, as he warned that failure to address the ballooning cost of pensions for retirees could lead to a "fiscal collapse."

But in May, then-DND officer-in-charge Carlito Galvez Jr. said Marcos Jr. is also "very much concerned" about the impact of the proposed new pension system on the morale of soldiers and policemen. —Joviland Rita with Hana Bordey/ VAL, GMA Integrated News