DBM allots P10B for PVAO, AFP pensioners

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) remitted a total of P9.91 billion to the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to cover the  pension requirements of more than 100,000 war veterans and retired military personnel for the second quarter.

Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said the bulk of the amount or P7.5 billion would benefit 120,296 AFP pensioners, of which 2,583 comprise new beneficiaries for 2014.

The balance of P2.4 billion was released to 208,458 PVAO veterans to cover old age pensions, death pensions, disability pensions, and total administrative disability (TAD) pensions for the second quarter of the year.

The money was sourced from the Pension and Gratuity Fund under the 2014 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

“This latest release guarantees the timely delivery of regular pension benefits to our retired military personnel for the second quarter of the year. At the same time, we continue our transparency efforts to update, validate and cleanse our list of beneficiaries so that it’s free of invalid, duplicate, and ghost entries,” Abad said.

Abad noted that the automation of pension payments is one among several initiatives aimed at strengthening transparency and accountability in the Philippine bureaucracy.

“Before we began clearing the list of pension beneficiaries, we found out that hundreds of millions were going to ghost pensioners or deceased retirees every year. Switching from check to ATM payments nipped these anomalies in the bud,” Abad said.

“More important, however, is the fact that we’re able to give better support to our retired military personnel and our war veterans.

Such digitization and cashless initiatives ultimately allow us to deliver public services faster and protect government processes from corruption,” he added. – With Delon Porcalla