MANILA, Philippines – Defense chief Gilberto Teodoro recently requested from the Department of Budget and Management a P542-million supplemental budget to pay the pension of military retirees within the year.
President Arroyo ordered Teodoro last month to study and formally request additional funds to settle lingering pension problems of military retirees.
“We have forwarded the letter already to the President requesting a supplemental budget of P542 million in order for us to answer the deficit within the year to make our pensions current already,” Teodoro said during the fellowship meeting of the Association of Retired General and Flag Officers (AGFO) in Camp Aguinaldo last Wednesday.
In the same meeting, Teodoro announced that the department is recruiting paralegal officers to assist and advise soldiers in the frontlines.
“And we have to follow that up in our budget proposal for this year because for next year there will be a slight increase in our pension scheme within the budget for pensions,” he told AGFO members.
Teodoro said the hiring of paralegal officers is part of the reform program, under the Philippine Defense Reform (PDR) being implemented by department.
“We are currently working on a program that will bring in paralegals so that advice and assistance are readily available to soldiers in the field,” he said.
He said the legal assistants, who will be further trained by the defense department, will be deployed, at least in the battalion level, because they could not at once hire too many paralegals because of budgetary requirement.
He said the Armed Forces of the Philippines had a total of 75 battalions.
Aside from providing legal assistance, these legal minds would also make sure that all operational guidelines like the rules of engagement and respect for human rights are strictly followed by soldiers in all combat operations, he said.
The program to introduce paralegals in the field is patterned after the Australian military model wherein combat troops have legal advisers.