BUDGET Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Tuesday ruled out any increase in the salaries of the military and other uniformed personnel by the end of the year because of budget constraints.
“I can almost say that that’s not possible by the end of the year, simply because there’s nothing there in the budget for that,” Diokno said in a Palace press briefing, stressing that the 2016 budget does not have appropriations for an increase in troops’ salaries.
“We cannot spend something which is not authorized by Congress,” Diokno said, the government has earmarked P39.59 billion of the proposed 2017 national budget for the salary increase of soldiers, policemen and other uniformed personnel next year.
Meanwhile, the Budget chief said that they are finding a way to include an appropriation in the 2017 budget for the Centenarians Act or RA 10868, which mandates that all Filipinos who reach the age of 100 will receive a letter of felicitation from the President of the Philippines and a P100,000 cash gift, whether they are residing in the Philippines or abroad.