Duterte’s Executive Order 3 increasing combat pay of soldiers, cops

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed his third executive order increasing the combat duty pay and combat incentive pay of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Executive Order (EO) No. 3 signed on September 26 amended the EO No. 38 (s. 2011). It was effective beginning September 1.

With Duterte’s third EO, the combat duty pay of the officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP and uniformed personnel of the PNP has been raised to a fixed rate of P3,000 per month. AFP’s previous rate was P500 per month while PNP’s combat duty pay was at a maximum rate of P340 per month.

Those entitled to receive combat duty pay are officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP performing combat duties or activities and uniformed personnel of the PNP engaged in actual police operations as defined in the regulations that would be issued by the Secretary of National Defense and the National Police Commission.

Meanwhile, members of the AFP and the uniformed personnel of the PNP involved in actual combat against various insurgent, terrorist, and lawless elements will receive an additional combat incentive pay of P300 per day. Combat incentive pay is over and above the P3,000 combat duty pay.

The EO, meanwhile, set the following conditions:

• operation must be for a specific combat mission that is duly covered by an Operations Order (OPORD) or Fragmentary Order  (FRAG-O) for the AFP or a Mission Order for the PNP
• personnel in involved in combat must be in the published task organization of the AFP OPORD/FRAG-O or the PNP Mission Order
• total additional combat incentive pay for each individual should not exceed P3,000 per month

AFP's combat incentive pay used to be at P150 per day of actual combat but did not exceed P1,5000 per OPORD or FRAG-O.

The initial funding requirement to implement the EO will be drawn from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund. But succeeding funding shall be included in the specific budgets of the AFP and PNP, as the case may be, in the General Appropriations Act, provided that the actual roster of military and uniformed personnel of the AFP and PNP is submitted to the Department of Budget and Management. 

At Camp Aguinaldo, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr. said the soldiers are very happy with the issuance of the EO.

“High morale, maganda po ang morale ng ating mga kasundaluhan lalo na po sa mga nagsisilbi sa mga mapanganib na lugar,” Padilla said. — ALG/RSJ, GMA News