MANILA- Having set its sights on doubling the salaries of soldiers and cops by 2018, the Duterte administration has come up with a draft Congress Joint Resolution authorizing compensation adjustment for military and uniformed personnel (MUP).

The draft resolution prepared by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) was concurred with by the Office of the President last Sept. 20.

If signed by both houses of Congress, the resolution will double the base pay of a Police Officer I in the Philippine National Police, a Private in the Department of National Defense, and equivalent ranks in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Public Safety College, Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

A Police Officer I will enjoy a 100 percent increase in monthly base pay from the current P14,834 to P29,668.

Overall, the adjustments will result to a 58.7 percent average increase in base pay for all MUP ranks, effective January 1, 2018.

The provisional and officers’ allowances will no longer be part of the compensation of MUP as these are granted as an interim measure pending the modification of the base pay schedule.

According to DBM estimates, the increase in the base pay of soldiers, police, firefighters and jail guards will entail an additional cost of P63.4 billion.

The increase in the compensation of the MUP will be funded from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF), and from any available allotment in the respective budgets of the agencies concerned.