Rappler Talk: Can military pension reform happen under Marcos?

MANILA, Philippines – In late March, following a meeting in Malacañang, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno announced the Marcos administration’s proposal to reform the country’s military pension system. 

The plan is not new. Past administrations have tried, in vain, to overhaul the pension system of the country’s armed forces. The two biggest sticking points? Removing automatic indexation or increases in pension as salaries of those in service go up, and making contributions mandatory for those already in or about to enter the service. 

Diokno said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is “willing to spend his political capital” to push this reform because if the system goes on unchanged, a “fiscal collapse” would be in the horizon. 

Can Marcos – a president with high trust and performance ratings and a supermajority in Congress – make a successful push for this measure? 

In this episode of Rappler Talk, we talk to former senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a former soldier who, as a legislator, also proposed similar reforms to the pension system.  

Bookmark this page to catch the interview when it goes live on April 19, at 3 in the afternoon. – Rappler.com