This is a pension fund in the making, says Cleofe Melchor, assistant vice president in the legislative reform office of the AFP Retirement and Separation Benefits System, the pension fund of the Philippine armed forces.
By that she means the AFP-RSBS is taking steps to abandon the guiding credo of the system to attain 'self-sufficiency,' so that instead of relying on government money or salary contributions from soldiers, it could live solely off its investments.
The system was founded in 1976 by a decree from then-President Ferdinand Marcos, who was in the processing of building up the armed forces and realized the need for retirement benefits. The government kicked in an initial Ps200 million...
