Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 20) — House Speaker Martin Romualdez on Wednesday expressed confidence the lower chamber will approve on final reading next week the bill seeking changes to the pension system of the military and uniformed personnel (MUP).
Romualdez said he sees the approval of House Bill No. 8969 before the 19th Congress’ second regular session goes into recess in October. This, as he expects the House to have passed by next week all 20 priority bills which the Marcos administration earlier identified.
READ: Palace: 20 priority bills eyed for Congress approval by December
“We are on track to approve the two remaining (priority) measures before the October recess,” Romualdez said, noting one of these is the MUP pension reform bill which hurdled second reading on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada told CNN Philippines in a text message that he “will still have to consult with the economic managers” when asked for the Senate’s target timeline for approval of its version of the measure. Estrada — the chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation — has also pushed for reforms to the pension system.
Among the key provisions of the House’s MUP pension reform bill is that new entrants are mandated to contribute 9% of their salaries, while the government’s share is at 12%.
Currently, soldiers and uniformed personnel do not pay contributions for their eventual retirement benefits, unlike Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System members whose salaries are regularly deducted for that purpose.
It also provides a guaranteed annual salary increase of 3% over 10 years, which Rep. Joey Salceda earlier said is “already a sacrifice willingly made by the MUPs given the historical salary rate increase of 12%.”
Meanwhile, the other remaining priority bill which Romualdez expects the House to greenlight by next week is the proposed amendments to the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act.
“In sum, the House of Representatives will meet its commitment to approve all 20 priority measures by the end of September, or three months ahead of target,” the official noted.
