Senators, economic managers in joint efforts to rein in huge pension fund requirements
The Senate and the economic managers of the Duterte administration are set to begin studying various options and actuarial studies on how to stop the bleeding of government revenues to finance the close to P6 trillion pension fund for the country’s military and uniformed personnel (MUP) this year.

The study was agreed upon by Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon and Senator Panfilo M, Lacson, and officials of the Department of National Defense, Government Service Insurance Service (GSIS) and the Bureau of Treasury at the close of a public hearing conducted today by the Senate national defense committee chaired by Lacson.
Drilon earlier expressed fears that, if not properly planned and managed, the huge amount of pension funds that needs to be included in the Republic’s annual national budget could bring about very serious repercussions.
The current proposed 2021 national budget is P4.5 trillion.
Drilon strongly suggested that the Senate’s economist, Senate President Ralph G. Recto, be asked to submit his own solution to the burgeoning pension fund problem.
At issue are several bills on the pension fund problem, including a fixed three-year term of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and extending the current 56-year mandatory retirement age for the MUPs to 60 or 62 years old.
One of Recto’s suggestions is that a new retirement scheme would cover new entrants in 2022 so that the government could not be tagged as an ‘’Indian giver’’ which means it refuses to give what it had agreed to do so.
This means a that ‘’lump sum’’ proviso for retirees will no longer be in the proviso when the GSIS handles the MUP’s pension fund.