A claim circulating on Facebook recently that it was former President Benigno Aquino III and not President Rodrigo who approved the salary increase for military and police personnel is missing in context and misleading.
The claim cited a statement issued by former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV on January 20, 2017, which stated: “Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV yesterday reminded the AFP (Armed Forced of the Philippines) and PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel that their pay increase for 2017 is the second tranche of Executive Order 201 signed by then President Noynoy Aquino in 2016, and was not due to President Rodrigo Duterte’s efforts.” http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2017/0120_trillanes1.asp
Here are the facts:
Aquino signed Executive Order No. 201, s. 2016 entitled “Modifying the Salary Schedule for Civilian Government Personnel and Authorizing the Grant of Additional Benefits for Both Civilian and Military and Uniformed Personnel” on February 19, 2016. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2016/02/19/executive-order-no-201-s-2016/
Sections 2 and 3 of EO No. 201 modified the salary schedule of civilian personnel in the government to be implemented in four tranches.
EO No. 201 did not increase the salary pay scale of military and uniformed personnel (MUP) but only their allowances.
Section 7 stated that a monthly provisional allowance shall be given to the MUP to be implemented in four tranches, in lieu of increases in base pay.
On the other hand, Duterte signed on January 1, 2018 Congress Joint Resolution (JR) No. 01 entitled “Joint Resolution Authorizing the Increase in Base Pay of Military and Uniformed Personnel in the Government, and For Other Purposes.”
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2018/01jan/20180101-JR-1-RRD.pdf
JR No. 01 doubled the base pay of Police Officer 1 in the PNP or Private in the AFP to 29,668 pesos effective January 1, 2018. Overall, the salary adjustments result to a 58.7 percent average increase for all MUP ranks. https://dbm.gov.ph/index.php/secretary-s-corner/press-releases/list-of-press-releases/425-president-duterte-fulfills-campaign-promise-doubles-salaries-of-cops-soldiers
https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/01/09/joint-resolution.html
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/09/18/cops-soldiers-other-uniformed-personnel-to-begin-receiving-doubled-pay
The claim that the wage hike for soldiers and cops was made during the Aquino administration, and not Duterte’s, has generated at least 2,271 reactions and 3,288 shares, including on Facebook page Robredo Para Pilipino. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
(This fact-check piece was produced with the support of Internews’ Philippine Fact-Checker Incubator Project.)