The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today denounced the plan to create a ₱20-billion trust fund for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and other uniformed services, as proposed by Senate President Francis Escudero. This plan will further inflate the costs for maintaining the already bloated and overindulged military and police machinery, notorious for human rights abuses and corruption.
“If enacted, this whopping ₱20-billion slush fund, which will be taken from the people’s money, virtually means grabbing food from the table of the working people to feed the monsters that oppress them,” Valbuena said. “This is grotesque and totally unacceptable.”
“To secure the loyalty of the military and police, Marcos continues to indulge their officers and men with higher salaries, rewards, all sorts of allowances and benefits,” Valbuena said. “He even increased their subsistence allowance by ₱200/day over their above-average salaries, all while refusing to raise workers’ minimum wages by the same amount.”
“The planned slush fund is a big insult to public school teachers, health workers, department and other agency rank-and-file employees, and personnel in local government units, who perform crucial public services while receiving low salaries, delayed allowances and basic benefits,” Valbuena said. “Worse, their meager salaries are slashed by 9% for GSIS contributions.
Valbuena pointed out that, unlike other public employees, military and police personnel do not contribute even a single centavo to pay for their pensions. “The money to pay for their pensions come from the people’s money, bleeding the national budget of hundreds of billions of pesos.”
“This slush fund is about rewarding generals, commanders, and ground troops, who have long and bloody records of violating human rights and international humanitarian law,” Valbuena pointed out. “Through this fund, Marcos will only further reinforce the culture of impunity among the fascist murderers, absurdly depicted by Senator Escudero as ‘servants of justice and peace.’”
