Senator Alan Peter Cayetano proposes to increase minimum salary for members of the Philippine National Police to P50,000. This move is in support to the campaign promise of his former running mate President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte.
The proposed increase will start from the rank of Police Officer 1. However, those with ranks of director will receive P100,000. This would mean allocating an additional P50billion a year for PNP personnel who are currently 170,000 in numbers.
Cayetano believes this can be done without impacting the budget of other government programs, since the country had experienced budget surplus at year end 2015.
Cayetone told Minda News, next year’s unprogrammed budget is about P300 to P400 million. He later added, there would still be about P150-P250 billion left of the of P3-trillion 2016 budget at the end of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s term.
If this increase happened, then the police personnel would have a monthly take home pay of P35,000 to P40,000 net of tax, which would be more than enough for a starting officer in Manila where the cost of living is estimated at P35,000.
Furthermore, the salary of an entry level police officer is only about P20,000, which includes the allowance and the base pay of P14,800. The proposed P50,000 salary increase will include the benefits of an entry level police officer.
Cayetano expressed hopes to get Congressional approval for this proposal, such that the increase be implemented before Christmas this year. He said “increasing the PNP members’ salary is easy but that of the military is a “bit complicated.”
While Duterte was happy with the proposal made, some of the congressional members wanted simultaneous salary increase for all public servants, which is not at all possible. Duterte said, “If the country’s economy continues to perform well they may be able to increase the salaries of other government workers.”
Apart from salary increase, the senator is also planning to propose an additional P20 billion budget for the retirement pay of PNP members. Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, expressed support to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s proposed salary hike for police officers and branded the proposal as “feasible” and “long overdue,” Manila Bulletin reports.
The salary increase has a required funding of about P70 billion, with P50 billion going to the salary hike and the remaining P20 billion would be earmarked as retirement fund for the first year of Duterte administration.
Duterte has explicitly stated that the existing hierarchy of both the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is coterminous with President Aquino, PhilStar reports. With the incoming government of Duterte, Filipinos expect to see better lives ahead.
John Bertiz, of the Alliance for Community Transformation and Service-OFWs, said overseas workers, particularly those staying in the Middle East, are hopeful that Duterte’s presidency will have a big heart for them and their families.
