Deputy Speaker and Antique lone District Rep. Loren Legarda has filed a bill seeking to adjust the monthly pension and disability benefits of retirees of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The House leader said the country’s diplomats, who have always been at the frontlines, deserve to receive such benefits to afford them a “decent living” upon their retirement.

“Cognizant of the complex responsibilities faced by our foreign service personnel, it is but fitting to provide them with decent benefits, most especially upon retirement, thus compensating them for their patriotism, and the hard work they have rendered throughout their career,” Legarda said in filing House Bill No. 7673, to be known as the “Foreign Affairs Retirement and Disability Benefits Act.”

Covered by the measure are the retired officers and employees of the DFA who served in the Department for at least 15 years and are eligible to receive a monthly pension from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Legarda said under HB 7673, all other officers and employees of the DFA who have also retired after serving in the DFA, but who have not complied with such requirements, shall be covered by applicable benefits under the GSIS Act, as amended.

“This bill thus seeks to adjust the monthly pension and disability benefits of retirees of the DFA, in order to provide them with adequate support to afford a decent living, to be at par with the current pay scale enjoyed by those that are currently in active service,” she said.

HB 7673 provides that the monthly pension benefits of all DFA retirees, as provided for under Republic Act No. 7157, the Foreign Service Act of 1991 , shall be automatically adjusted at the same rate as any future or subsequent increase in the salary of the same rank he or she retired from.

According to Legarda’s bill, the benefits shall be granted to all retirees of the DFA who retired prior to the effectivity of the proposed Act.

In case of death, the adjusted retirement benefits that the deceased DFA retirees were receiving or entitled to receive shall be given to the following: his or her surviving dependent spouse, during his or her lifetime, or until he or she remarries; and dependent children.

HB 7673 provides that the different funding requirements for the initial implementation of the proposed Act shall be sourced from any available savings of the DFA.

“Thereafter, the annual differential amount necessary for GSIS to pay the adjusted monthly pension and other benefits to implement the provisions of this Act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act annually, to be sourced possibly from the DFA’s annual consular income as a percentage thereof,” it said.

The bill tasks the DFA to issue the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed Act within 90 days after its effectivity.