Military, uniformed personnel receives pay hike starting January 2026
By Derco Rosal
At A Glance
- running through 2028.
Starting Jan. 1, 2026, military and uniformed personnel (MUP) across the Philippines began receiving salary increases under a three-year, multi-year pay hike program running through 2028.
This was based on a national budget circular issued by Budget Secretary Rolando Toledo on Tuesday, Jan. 13, to implement the increase in the base pay of MUP in the government.
Under the new circular, the government is initiating the first of three planned tranches to update base pay and subsistence allowances across the defense and security sectors. It mandates salary hikes on the first day of every year from 2026 until 2028, the end of the Marcos administration.
It covers all military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and uniformed personnel from agencies including the police, fire, jail, corrections, coast guard, and mapping authorities under their respective departments.
As such, the monthly base pay of incumbent MUP as of Dec. 31, 2025 will be adjusted starting Jan. 1, 2026, based on the updated base pay schedule.
Meanwhile, a warning was issued regarding possible irregularities in the salary adjustment, noting that if, upon audit, authorities later find errors in the adjustment, these will be corrected. As such, “the personnel concerned shall refund any overpayments received.”
Additionally, the subsistence allowance for all MUP will be set at ₱350 per day in line with Executive Order (EO) No. 107 (2025).
As per the circular, funding for the increases will be charged against each agency’s personnel services budget as provided under the fiscal year 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA), or the national budget.
To provide a snapshot of the first tranche, the new base pay for a candidate soldier will be ₱19,516 per month. Entry-level private, patrolman, fire or jail officer, and apprentice seaman will receive ₱31,151.
At the top of the scale, a general or police general is slated to receive a monthly base pay of ₱157,274 effective at the start of 2026.