Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Facebook)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte says it’s time for the Senate to pass a pending counterpart bill allowing government employees, including public school teachers, to retire when they reach the age of 56.

This, after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed a measure fixing the retirement age in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) at 57.

"It’s time for the Senate to pass a complementary, House-passed bill allowing government personnel, including public school teachers, to retire at 56,” Villafuerte, a former Camarines Sur governor, said.

Last Jan.31, the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading House Bill (HB) No.206, which sought to lower the optional retirement age for government personnel from the current 60 years old to 56 years old.

Villafuerte says this will complement the newly-signed Republic Act (RA) No.11939, which amended RA No.11709 by prescribing a fixed three-year tour of duty for the AFP chief and other top AFP officers, and letting all soldiers retire when they reach the age of 57 or had been in active military service for 30 years.

But for HB No.206 to become a law, the counterpart bill in the Senate--Senate Bill (SB) No.1832 authored by Senator Ramon Revilla Jr.--must first be passed.

Villafuerte, a co-author of HB No.206, noted that the Senate bill covers all civil servants, including public school teachers.

“This would enable would-be retirees to reap the benefits of their hard work at a younger age  and at the same time open up new job opportunities to those in the private sector who want  to formally join government but can’t  in the absence of available positions in the bureaucracy,” Villafuerte explained.

"The House-passed bill on earlier retirement for our civil servants will give our over [one] million workers in Government the option to leave public service at a younger age than currently allowed, so they can, for one, spend more quality time with their respective families even before they join the ranks of the elderly,” he said.

Villafuerte explained that under HB No.206, a government worker can retire at the age of 56, on condition that he or she 1) has rendered service for at least 15 years by the time of his or her retirement and 2) has not been receiving a monthly pension benefit from permanent total disability.