Retired cops’ August pensions on hold due to court order vs. PNP account

Some 66,000 former policemen may not receive their August pensions after a Manila court barred the Philippine National Police (PNP) from withdrawing from its bank account, PNP chief information officer Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac said Monday.

Sindac said Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 issued an order to the Landbank of the Philippines not to “deliver, transfer or otherwise dispose of such property in your possession belonging to herein respondents to any person or entity.”

The order added: “Withdrawal, release or transfer shall not be made on any deposit accounts, properties or assets belonging to the aforementioned parties under the Bank’s control or possession if the resulting balance will go below or equivalent to P3,915,140,499.16.”

The order, dated July 9, 2014, stemmed from the civil case filed by the Manila’s Finest Brotherhood Association, which represents the retirees of the defunct Integrated National Police (INP). Named respondents in the case were the PNP and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Manila’s Finest Brotherhood Association is running after some P3.9 billion in pension differentials for the retired INP from 1991 to 2006, which it said remain unpaid up to this time.

Sindac said the P3.9 billion is not with the PNP but with the DBM.

“We believe that this is a case of barking up the wrong tree. Our bank account only receives the money to pay for the pension and other expenses of the PNP,” he said.

“The money should come from the DBM and as soon as we receive it, then we are more than willing to give it to them (INP retirees),” he added.

Operations will be affected

Sindac said aside from the pensions of PNP and INP retirees, the court order will also affect the PNP's day-to-day operations. “This really has a big impact on us because we are withdrawing money from our LandBank account every month for our operational expenses,” he said.

“If this will not be resolved, the PNP operations will be unduly hampered and that more than 66,000 of our PNP and INP pensioners will not receive their pensions in their ATMs for August 2014,” he added.

The PNP needs P600 million every month to finance its law enforcement activities, Sindac said. It also releases P1.8 billion every month for the pension of retired PNP and INP members.

“Based on the order, the court is seemingly not familiar with the intricacies of the budget of the PNP,” Sindac said.

He also explained that the pension for the retirees is specifically funded in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) every year. Some P22 billion is allocated annually to pay the pension of PNP retirees but it does not include the P3.9 billion for the pension differential of INP retirees.

Sindac said the Manila court should have spared the PNP bank account in its order. He said the non-payment of the pension differentials of the INP retirees should be a matter addressed to the DBM and not the PNP.

PNP is now coordinating with the Landbank to seek legal remedy on the matter, Sindac said. —Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News