House ad hoc panel eyes naming PDEA agents as uniformed staff

House of Representatives' ad hoc committee on military and uniformed personnel pension system is considering including agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in the definition of uniformed personnel.

During the panel meeting on Wednesday, Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon raised his proposed measure on defining the term "uniformed personnel."

Biazon's House Bill 704 seeks to define the term in order to "fill the policy gap in this respect."

Under Biazon's bill, uniformed personnel shall refer to all employees of the government who wear uniforms, with ranks, armed or unarmed, and primarily involved in the enforcement of laws, thereby exposing them to risks to life and limb.

Masbate Representative Narciso Bravo then asked the panel if they could consider PDEA agents as uniformed personnel.

Albay Representative Joey Salceda, chairman of the ad hoc committee, answered in the affirmative.

"Yes, I will because now we're trying to define what is the military and uniformed personnel," Salceda said.

Other agencies that have law enforcers such as the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Immigration and even the law enforcement arm of the Food and Drug Administration will be considered, too.

At present, "uniformed personnel" covers the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

The panel has been discussing reform measures to improve the pension system. —LBG, GMA News