DON’T TOUCH PENSIONS OF AFP RETIREES
7 April 2023
DON’T TOUCH PENSIONS OF AFP RETIREES
By Jose Alejandrino
DoF Sec. Ben Diokno must not touch the pensions of armed forces and police retirees, or for that matter, any pensions. What was given to them by law must be given as an acquired right. The amounts of their pensions are small compared to the pensions of other countries. To reduce them further is unjust compared to what top officials in government receive, senators and congressmen. If someone has to make a sacrifice, it is the salaries of government officials like Ben Diokno who was the highest paid official in the Philippine government when he was governor of the Central Bank.
If the secretary of finance is low on cash, I suggest he goes through the budget appropriations and remove non-priority items, like, for example, that allocated to build a multi-billion luxurious building in BGC to house 24 senators. I am sure there are many “pork barrel” projects that can be eliminated. And tell BBM to stop his lavish junkets which so far haven’t brought those tens of billions of foreign investments he had been bragging about.
The new BRICS monetary system to replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency will have a large impact on the US economy and finances. Some even foresee the US dollar tumbling to one-half its value. It would push the US economy into a deep recession and lead to higher inflation. Since the Philippines is unlikely to join or be admitted to the new monetary system, thanks to BBM antagonizing China by offering the US access to four more Philippine military bases for a total of nine to be used against China in event of a US-China conflict over Taiwan, we would be visited like the US by high inflation that would eat deeply into the fixed income of workers and pensions of retirees. Already I am told the average pension of an AFP retiree is less than the equivalent of $1,000 a month. With an inflation twice the current rate of 8.2% and the dollar falling to less than half its value, which will surely affect the peso, how can AFP retirees - or, for that matter, other pensioners like teachers with even lower pensions - survive on their current pension? And should countries outside the BRICS new monetary system be required to purchase their oil and gas with gold, one can envision energy costs skyrocketing beyond our wildest dream. What our country will face is total mayhem. No gold, no oil and gas, no electricity. Everything will come to a complete halt. What good are super highways and bridges when vehicles cannot run for lack of fuel? You think I am exaggerating? Look at Sri Lanka today.
I repeat, DON’T TOUCH PENSIONS! You see what is happening in France? Millions went to the streets when French president wanted to reform the retirement age and pensions. If the BBM government touches pensions it is likely to see a similar upheaval in Manila. I am warning Diokno. Look for other avenues but don’t touch pensions.
I do not believe the country is broke. Perhaps it simply has a cash flow problem. There is the $41-42 billion Marcos gold which the late president Ferdinand Edralin Marcos had expressed as his last wish that 90% of it be returned to the Filipino people. I have received some highly confidential documents indicating the banks abroad where the gold is stored. The late president said in a taped recording presented at a US House Committee hearing that his son Bongbong knows the whereabouts of his gold implying his son is the custodian. Why has BBM not honored his father’s last wish? Why the need to tap the money of pensioners in GSIS and SSS, of Landbank and DBP, as was originally proposed when the Maharlika Sovereign Fund was first presented in Congress, and, now, the pensions of military retirees, when there is the Marcos gold in existence? Ask Imelda Marcos. She holds the gold certificates which she showed to her friends.
