PNP chief Bato dela Rosa gets 79% pay increase

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa will soon be a six-digit earner, as he will receive a monthly salary of P121,143 starting this year.

This is a whopping 79-percent increase from his current pay of P67,500, thanks to the implementation of President Duterte’s joint resolution authorizing the increase in base pay of military and uniformed personnel effective Jan. 1.

Whoever Dela Rosa’s successor will be is even luckier, as the salary of the PNP chief will further increase to P149,785 in 2019.

PNP Directorate for Comptrollership executive officer Chief Supt. Joselito Vera Cruz said the resolution’s implementation is a deterrent against corruption, particularly among police officers.

“I think policemen who are thinking of doing foolishness would think not just twice but thrice,” Vera Cruz said in a press briefing at Camp Crame yesterday.

The significant increases in their salary, according to Vera Cruz, would dissuade people within their ranks who want to earn money through illegal activities as dismissal from the service means forfeiture of benefits.

“It’s difficult to look for a job with a monthly base pay of P30,000,” he said.

Meanwhile, around 76,000 lawmen with the rank of Police Officer 1 will receive a 100-percent increase in their base pay. It means PO1s who used to receive a monthly salary of P14,834 will now get P29,668 a month.

Vera Cruz said all other ranks will have an average increase of 58.70 percent.

“Apparently, the budget could not double the salary of all ranks. As you can see, the lowest ranking police officers were given priority,” he said.

Policemen with ranks ranging from PO1 to Senior Police Officer 3 will receive their percentage of salary increase in full this year.

Meanwhile, those with ranks of SPO4 up to director general will receive their second adjustment in base pay in 2019.

With the implementation of the tax reform law, the monthly withholding tax of uniformed personnel went down by 69.24 percent for PO1s, up to 21.36 percent for director general.

The police officers, however, lost their provisional and officers’ allowances because of the pay hike, totaling P4,391 for PO1s and P93,427 for director general.

Cruz explained the losses incurred for the provisional and officers’ allowances are minimal as it will be offset by the higher base pay, which is advantageous especially for those who will receive their monthly pensions upon retirement.

“The pension for those who will retire will be computed based on the current rate,” Vera Cruz said.

He added that the yearly budget for the PNP also increased by approximately P5.1 billion from P3 billion.

“I think more people will apply because of the higher base pay at the PNP,” Vera Cruz said.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Dionardo Carlos said they need 21,000 more police officers.