Military pension drying up more a problem than mass retirement —Salceda

House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Representative Joey Salceda on Tuesday said that the danger that the military and uniformed personnel pension fund would dry up was a bigger problem than the "mass exodus" of  uniformed personnel if the MUP pension reform was implemented.

Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Robin Padilla had warned of the mass exodus should the proposed MUP pension reform, which includes the removal of automatic indexation in pensions and the imposition of mandatory contributions on military personnel, be implemented.

“I have expressed my concerns and my recommendations with the economic managers. Ultimately, we must balance the needs of military and uniformed personnel with the sustainability of the MUP pension system. Fiscal sustainability is also national security,” Salceda said.

“I have suggestions that are different from the administration's proposal. We in Congress will flesh the matter out. But allow me to simplify the issue: if we run out of funds to support the MUP pension system, there will be graver concerns than a mass retirement,” Salceda added.

Salceda then called on the Executive department to recalculate the unfunded liabilities given five years of no MUP salary increase, as well as reconsider the need for contributions to the MUP pension system.

“I am thinking about the AFP-RSBS (Armed Forces of the Philippines-Retirement and Separation Benefits System ) which ultimately failed to be a self-sustaining system. We need to learn the right lessons from that institution,” Salceda said.

“We also need to outline and estimate the least disruptive but effective fiscal improvements to the pension system,” Salceda added.

Several Senators said that implementing a 5% to 9% monthly contribution among uniformed personnel for their pension as proposed by the Marcos administration’s economic team was worth a study. — DVM, GMA Integrated News