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Playing with fire
The suggestion of the nation’s economic managers to collect contributions from soldiers and other uniformed personnel for their retirement pensions is a potential powder keg and the government should discard it. Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said contributions from military personnel are needed to prevent a “fiscal collapse.” The issue has resulted in apprehension that it may raise discontent among the ranks of soldiers and the police. Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. appealed for understanding, saying monthly collections are one of many options being carefully evaluated to strengthen the fiscal state. “We would like to give our assurance to stakeholders that the government will always look after the welfare and livelihood of our men and women in uniform,” he said. Consultations with active and retired uniformed personnel regarding the matter will be held, Galvez added. The government, he said, is looking to adopt a more financially sustainable military and uniformed personnel or MUP pension system that will be based on sound financial solutions and the application of actuarial science. “The government’s economic team is undertaking financial simulations to determine our optimal option. We are doing our best to determine and address the unintended consequences that may arise from proposed reforms to the MUP pension system,” Galvez said. He appealed to stakeholders to be circumspect and understanding of those who are working on the issue and support our efforts to seek solutions that will be beneficial to all, especially to our national fiscal health. For Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, the contributions or investments of the military and the police to be entitled to government support are their lives, which are more than equivalent to the monetary remittances collected from other public servants. “The nature of the work of soldiers is different. My God, these people are gambling their lives to protect the country,” Enrile said. “There is the Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association Inc. or AFPSLAI and other organizations that take care of the investments and pensions of uniformed personnel.” He added: “If I were Secretary Diokno, I would be extra careful with that plan of his because it is potentially explosive.” For 2023, the pension and gratuity fund item in the national budget from which the pensions of military and uniformed personnel are drawn totaled P272.9 billion, which is 50 percent higher than in 2022. “If the President will ask me about it, I will advise him to be very careful,” Enrile said. “The better way for the government is to ensure that the laws are enforced to generate revenue.” “For instance, the government should not allow the setting up of shopping malls inside economic zones which are then exploited for smuggling,” he said. “That alone is an obvious drain on the income of the government.” When the products are shipped to the ecozones the owner doesn’t pay the duty, and when night falls these products are spirited out of the freeports straight to other outlets of the mall. “Government loses potential revenue which all go to the pocket of the mall owner,” an irritated Enrile noted. “Then the poor soldiers who struggle to enable businessmen to keep their profits will have to pay for their pension.” All things are now being smuggled — sugar, palm oil, gasoline, onions and even galunggong. “I am sure that President Marcos will not allow deductions to the salaries of soldiers,” he asserted. The proposal will also be superfluous since, as Enrile pointed out, there are so many loopholes in the fiscal system that can be plugged to raise more than enough money, without having to bother the soldiers with financial concerns while they lay their lives on the line at the battlefield. The post Playing with fire appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
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