As the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has been receiving numerous inquiries regarding the release of funds for pension differentials of retired military and uniformed personnel (MUP), it is issuing this statement to provide clarification to all parties concerned.

It may be recalled that the Senate and the House of Representatives issued Congress Joint Resolution (JR) No. 1, s. 2018, increasing the base pay of all MUP, on January 1, 2018. Under the current system, the MUP pension requirements are automatically indexed to the current base pay scheme for MUP in active service, pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 1638, Republic Act (RA) No. 5976, RA No. 8551, and RA No. 9263.

In this regard, the DBM is pleased to announce that it has already released around PhP22.3 billion to the Department of National Defense, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, and the Philippine Coast Guard to cover the pension differential of MUP retirees for the period of June to December 2019. Meanwhile, the pension differential for the period of January to May 2019 will be acted upon separately, subject to the availability of funds.

As for the pension differentials for the period of January to December 2018, it must be noted that Item III of the aforementioned JR suspended the indexation of the pension of retired MUP with the base pay of those in active service. Pursuant to the same Item, the suspension had been lifted on January 1, 2019.

In view of the suspension of indexation under Item III of JR No. 1, s. 2018, there will be no pension differential to be paid for FY 2018.

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