No good news yet for INP retirees

Surviving retirees of the Integrated National Police (INP) will have to wait for at least two more years to enjoy a higher pension comparable to that being received by their counterparts in the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo decided to appeal the March 21 decision of Manila regional trial court Judge Juan Nabong, which entitles some 600 INP retirees to receive a pension that is, at most, three times the amount they are currently receiving.

Nabong had ordered the budget department, the PNP, the National Police Commission and the Civil Service Commission to immediately effect and implement the proper adjustments on the benefits, retroactive to the date of effectivity.

Nabong’s decision should have been final and executory if no appeal is made within 15 days from the date of receipt of concerned government agencies.

"This means it will take at least two more years before these pitiful retirees shall reap their just benefits," said retired Col. Felicisimo Lazaro, president of the Manila’s Finest Retirees Association Inc., who took up the cudgels for the INP retirees, most of whom are in their 70s, ailing, and living in poverty.

INP policemen retired from service before the passage and implementation of Republic Act 6975, or the PNP Law, on Dec. 13, 1990. The law exempts all INP retirees, whose ages now range from 68 to 96, from receiving the same pension as the PNP retirees.

After being silent for so many years, the INP retirees branded the PNP law as a class legislation, grouping police retirees into those who retired prior to 1991 and those who retired in 1991 onwards.

The INP retirees, through Lazaro, sought a declaratory relief from Nabong.

Though barely able to walk a mile, these INP retirees are mulling over the possibility of marching to Malacañang to seek the intercession of President Arroyo in the case.

Lazaro said he is aware that it is routine for the Solicitor General to appeal any decision that goes against the government’s interests, but he is appealing to Benipayo’s sense of compassion for the retirees, who are fast declining in number.

In Lazaro’s letter to Benipayo, he said the Solicitor General’s opposition to the judge’s decision thwarted the retirees’ efforts to "justly reap the same retirement benefits accorded to their peers in the PNP."

Lazaro fears that none of the INP retirees will outlive the termination of the appeal — many of them may die before the case can be decided by the Supreme Court, so that if "they triumph in the higher court, it will be an empty victory."