Pres. Duterte signs exec. order hiking combat duty and incentive pay of military, police

President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte. (Photo: Karl Norman Alonzo/PPD/PNA)

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order increasing the combat duty and incentive pay of members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP), living up to his promise to increase their net take-home pay.

In Executive Order No. 03 released to the media Monday, President Duterte increased the combined combat duty and incentive pay from PHP1,500 to a “fixed” PHP3,000 for the officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP and uniformed personnel of the PNP.

At present, the AFP’s combat duty pay is PHP500 while the combat incentive pay is PHP150 “but not to exceed PHP1,500 per Operations Order (OPORD) or Fragmentary Order (FRAG-O) per month”.

For qualified uniformed PNP personnel, the current maximum rate of combat duty pay is PHP340 per month.

“The rate of the combat duty pay of the officers and enlisted personnel of the AFP and uniformed personnel of the PNP is hereby fixed at PHP3,000 per month,” reads the EO signed by the President on Sept. 26.

The EO also provides that soldiers and policemen who figure directly in actual combat operations against various insurgent, terrorist and lawless elements shall be entitled to additional combat incentive pay of PHP300 per day.

The additional combat incentive pay is subject to the following conditions: The operations must be for a specific combat mission that is duly covered by an OPORD or FRAG-O for the AFP or a Mission Order for the PNP; the personnel involved in combat must be in the published task organization of the AFP OPORD/FRAG-O or the PNP Mission Order; and the total additional combat incentive pay for each individual shall not exceed PHP3,000 per month.

The initial funding necessary to implement the EO shall be drawn from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund and the succeeding funding from the respective budgets of the AFP and PNP.