The Senate will be looking into the suggestion to include a P54.6-billion allocation for the pension of police, military and other uniformed personnel under the proposed Bayanihan 3.
Senate President Vicente Sotto acknowledged varying views about the inclusion of pension funds in the measure that was supposed to sustain the COVID-19 response and recovery programs.
The bill, approved at the committee level in the House of Representatives, seeks to appropriate P405.6 billion as additional COVID-19 stimulus, including the grant of cash aid to families that were adversely affected by the pandemic.
But the House-proposed Bayanihan 3 also allots a pension and gratuity fund for uniformed personnel, to supposedly restore the budget that was slashed under the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA)
"We will have to look into it. Very closely," Sotto said when asked for his comment during an online interview with reporters on Thursday, May 6.
"Because very strictly thinking also, na itong mga pensionado natin, ay next year mas malaki pa 'yong pondo sa GAA noong pension kaysa sa budget ng AFP. So baka ito yung solusyon na nakikita nila under the Bayanihan 3, para hindi makadagdag sa problema ng GAA (Because very strictly thinking also, our pensioners are set to be given huge budget, even bigger than the budget of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, under next year's GAA. So maybe this was their solution, to include it in the Bayanihan 3, to ease possible problems that we could encounter in the GAA)," he surmised.
"So we have to review that," he added.
Sotto, however, also noted that pensioners might also need the government's assistance amid the health crisis.
"When you say, ayuda, eh bakit hindi ba kailangan ng ayuda ng mga pensionado natin? Aba eh, marami din do’n ang naghihirap ah. Hindi ba? Marami rin do’n ang nawalan ng income. Kaya kailangan 'yong pension nila ay siguruhin na makarating (When you say, aid, don't these pensioners need assistance, too? Hey, many of them are also suffering. Many of them also lost their income. So they need the pension)," he said.
"We will have to cross the bridge when we get there...We will see how this came about," the Senate chief said.
Marikina 2nd District Representative Stella Quimbo, one of the main proponents of the Bayanihan 3 in the Lower Chamber, explained that the Department of Budget and Management requested the inclusion of the pension fund.
She also maintained that fund will "in a way" be related to COVID-19 response, as it is expected to help uniformed personnel who have served as frontliners during the pandemic.
The P54.6-billion pension is proposed to be released in three phases: P20 billion, P20 billion, and P14.6 billion.
Like the annual budget, the Bayanihan 3, an appropriation bill, must be approved in the House of Representatives before the members of the Senate could start plenary discussions on the measure.