Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa on Tuesday warned of a “very revolting” reaction from retired soldiers and policemen if the Marcos administration will include them in the proposed reforms to the military and uniformed personnel (MUP) pension system.
“Very revolting ang kanilang magiging reaksyon d’yan… Magwawala. Galit na galit. Hindi naman maging bayolente basta magwawala,” Dela Rosa said in an interview with reporters.
“Nagmamartsa nga ang mga taga-kaliwa d’yan sa kalsada. Hindi ba pwedeng magmartsa ang mga matatandang retirees? Magwawala in the sense that they will express their disgust over that policy kung talagang itutuloy ‘yan. ‘Yan ang magwawala, hindi ‘yung magwawala na makipag-gera,” he added.
Dela Rosa, a retired Philippine National Police chief himself, said plans to introduce reforms in the MUP pension system should only apply to the new entrants.
If the active MUP will be affected in the planned reform in the pension system, Dela Rosa said it will cause demoralization.
“Sana ang ginawa naming pag-fight sa field noon, bigyan din ng kaukulang pag-alaga at pag-aaruga ng ating gobyerno. Ganon ang sentimyento ng ating mga retirees,” he said.
“Siguro lahat naman tayo ay aminado na sa lahat ng retirees, ‘yung nasa armed services ang talagang buwis buhay ang trabaho n’yan… So dapat lang alagaan s’ya dahil after he used up the productive years of his life fighting the enemies of the state, ngayon na matanda na siya ‘di natin alagaan. That’s unfair,” he added.
In March, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is “okay” with the proposal to reform the pension system for the MUP as he warned that failure to address the ballooning cost of pensions for retirees could lead to a “fiscal collapse.”
Senator Jinggoy Estrada earlier said the Senate committee on national defense and security, peace, unification and reconciliation will tackle the measures seeking to reform the MUP pension system in May.–AOL, GMA Integrated News
