"These retirees are in the twilight of their lives."
"These retirees are in the twilight of their lives."
By a simple stroke of a pen, Secretary Wendel Avisado of the Department of Budget and Management terminated the old-age pension benefits of more than 18,500 former Philippine Constabulary personnel who were absorbed into the PNP because of RA 6975.
The DBM decided that RA 6948, which says that military personnel who have rendered at least six years of military service, are considered veterans and therefore entitled to old age pension benefits. The DBM appears to believe that of the abolition of the PC by RA 6975, it has ceased to be a major service branch of the Armed Forces and for this reason, about 18,500 pension recipients are longer entitled to continue receiving their benefits.
This termination of benefits appears to be based solely on the interpretation of DBM of the provisions of RA 6948.Whether DBM even bothered to seek the opinion of the Justice Department, we do not know. Why DBM has targeted these old pensioners who are all in the twilight of their lives is hard to understand. Judging from news reports, however, it seems that the DBM has not closed the door permanently. If the 18,500 pensioners can produce documentation that their separation from the PC and their joining the PNP were covered with corresponding orders such as resignation or separations orders and not solely as a result of RA 6975, there might be chance that the benefits could be restored. But this is not even sure.
I do not know how much research the DBM did or whether DBM knows that the situation of all these pensioners are not the same. Many pensioners belonging to my generation have served more than 20 years in the PC when they were absorbed by the PNP. With more than 20 years of service, this group were therefore considered optionally retired with the ranks they held when they were absorbed by the PNP. They were then placed in the reserve force of the AFP which actually makes them retired military personnel. RA 6948 may have abolished the PC but it did not erase the services rendered by these retired personnel in the Armed Forces. Whether the DBM understood this and was taken into consideration in their decision making process, the report did not say.
Regardless, the DBM action is surely going to provoke lawsuits against the agency and maybe even Secretary Wendel Avisado personally for grave abuse of authority. Since the DBM appears not to have closed its doors, it is difficult to figure why it did not ask the AFP for assistance in the productions of the necessary documents needed or perhaps send some of the DBM people to the office of the Adjutant General of the AFP to look at all the available documents covering the more than 18,500 retirees who have now lost their benefits instead of requiring these retirees to be the ones to produce the documents.
For the information of the DBM, almost all these people are in their late sixties, seventies and eighties. Whether these factors was even thought of when DBM took this unilateral action of terminating the benefits by a simple stroke of a pen is anybody’s guess. But requiring elderly people to do this kind of work is hardly surprising at all. Many government offices would rather that people like these former pensioners do the leg work instead of them doing the work for the elderly.
How, for instance, would a veteran in his 70s living in Agusan produce the documents required by the DBM? That veteran would have to spend tens of thousands of pesos to go to Manila to follow up his papers. All these for the measly amount of P6,700 a month. It is unconscionable and we hope that the DBM, AFP, and the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office can work out something to come up with a fair resolution of the case. Let us hope that this problem can be resolved to the satisfaction of all not wait for this problem to fall in the lap of the President for him to solve because he is quite busy attending to other important affairs of the state.
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Senate President Tito Sotto is quite right. Since the 30th Southeast Asian Games is already upon us, we should put aside all the recriminations as to who is responsible of bungling the preparations and try to enjoy the sporting spectacle for the next two weeks. After the government spent billions of pesos in preparing for the different venues, the people deserve to enjoy the games. We should be able to put the blame game in back burner and welcome our regional guests and try to show them our well-known hospitality that we Filipinos are noted for. It would be a shame that while the games are going on, we cannot stop growling at each other.
Snafus are bound to happen in games of this magnitude. I am sure that the organizing committee would have wanted a perfect preparation, but let us not dwell on it too much because it will only poison the sporting atmosphere and coverage of the games.
Furthermore the problems encountered were not really very serious. Lack of Thai food or long waits to go to assigned hotels will not make or break the success of the sporting competitions. According to our sporting associations who took charge in preparing our athletes, the country stands a realistic chance of topping the competitions. If this is achieved, it will be the first for the country. Let us all therefore rally behind our athletes and wish them a successful competition.