Institutionalizing the Comprehensive Social Benefits Program

April 7, 2020

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 110

INSTITUTIONALIZING THE COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL BENEFITS PROGRAM

WHEREAS, Section 5 (3), Article XVI of the Constitution provides that adequate remuneration and benefits for the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) shall be a prime concern of the State;

WHEREAS, Section 76 of Republic Act (RA) No. 6975 or the "Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Act of 1990," as amended, provides that all uniformed personnel and/or their heirs shall be entitled to all benefits relative to their death or permanent incapacity;

WHEREAS, RA No. 6963 granted special financial assistance and benefits to the family or beneficiary of any police or military personnel or fireman killed or permanently incapacitated while in the performance of their duty or by reason of their office or position;

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 69 (s. 2018) granted financial support to the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (CAFGU)/CAFGU Active Auxiliary (CAA) units in recognition of their indispensable role in maintaining local peace and order, and dealing with local security threats and armed conflicts;

WHEREAS, one of the strategies in attaining just and lasting peace in the Philippine Development Plan is to make government more responsive to peace, conflict and security issues, which may be achieved by providing the police, military and their support units, the rightful and reasonable benefits in the performance of their sworn duties to defend and secure the State and to maintain peace and order;

WHEREAS, there is a need to enhance and rationalize existing assistance and benefits given to police, military and their support units through a comprehensive social benefits program in recognition of their invaluable contribution to the pursuit of just and lasting peace; and

WHEREAS, Section 17, Article VII of the Constitution vests in the President the power of control ever all executive departments, bureaus and offices, as well as the mandate to ensure the faithful execution of laws;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution and existing laws, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. Comprehensive Social Benefits Program (CSBP). — The CSBP is hereby institutionalized as a mechanism to provide speedy, sustainable and rationalized social benefits and assistance to the military, police and their support units consisting of other uniformed personnel and CAFGU/CAA (collectively referred to as "covered personnel") who are killed or wounded in a legitimate action or operation sanctioned by the State, and their qualified beneficiaries.

The CSBP shall provide for different types of benefits and assistance, such as but not limited to: (a) special financial assistance; (b) scholarship assistance; (c) social welfare assistance; (d) health and medical care assistance; (e) shelter assistance; and (f) employment assistance.

SECTION 2. Coverage. — The CSBP shall cover military and police forces who are killed or wounded in legitimate action or operation sanctioned by the State, and their qualified beneficiaries. It shall also cover uniformed personnel of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), as well as members of the CAFGU/CAA of the AFP, who become casualties while in the performance of their respective duties in legitimate military or police operations, and their qualified beneficiaries.

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. —

a) Other uniformed personnel — refers to the personnel of the BJMP, BFP and PCG.

b) Killed-in-Action (KIA) — refers to a covered personnel killed in the line of duty in a legitimate combat operation, disaster response or search and rescue activities and/or related military action in support of police operations.

c) Killed-in-Police-Operation (KIPO) — refers to a covered personnel killed in a legitimate police operation.

d) Wounded-in-Action (WIA) — refers to a covered personnel wounded in the line of duty in a legitimate combat operation or related military action in support of police operations.

e) Wounded-in-Police-Operation (WIPO) — refers to a covered personnel wounded in a legitimate police operation.

f) Total Permanent Physical Disability (TPPD) — refers to the anatomical loss, or the permanent loss of use of one hand or both hands, or of one foot or loss of both feet or both legs, or one eye or both eyes or both eyes having only light perception, or of mental faculties or impairment of a physical function immediately resulting from the injury incurred during a legitimate combat operation or related military or police operations, and which renders such covered personnel indefinitely incapable of substantially performing the mandated duties and functions of that personnel's position.

g) Beneficiary — refers to a dependent or survivor of a covered personnel who is eligible to receive benefits, as follows:

(i) Legal spouse of a married covered personnel, provided that, if they are legally separated by a judicial decree, it is not on grounds caused by or attributable to the receiving spouse;

(ii) Legitimate, acknowledged or adopted children: provided, that except for children who by reason of their mental incapacity are incapable of employment, entitlement to herein benefits shall terminate when such children attain twenty-one (21) years of age or get married;

(iii) Parents of covered personnel or, if both parents are deceased, unmarried siblings, grandparents or grandchild of covered personnel in successive order; and

(iv) Other beneficiaries qualified under existing laws, rules and regulations, such as a partner cohabiting with the covered personnel concerned, provided, there is no impediment to marry each other.

SECTION 4. Components. — The following are the benefits and assistance to be provided under the CSBP, subject to existing laws, rules and regulations:

a) Special Financial Assistance (SFA). A lump sum amount provided to KIA/KIPO personnel, WIA/WIPO personnel with TPPD, and WIA/WIPO personnel with major and minor injuries;

b) Social welfare assistance. Enrollment in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program-Modified Conditional Cash Transfer under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or in lieu thereof, a monthly rice subsidy of twenty (20) kilos or its cash equivalent based on prevailing market price;

c) Shelter assistance. A housing unit in existing AFP or PNP housing sites, or construction of a housing unit in the land owned by the beneficiary or financial assistance for the repair of an existing housing unit, in coordination with the National Housing Authority (NHA) of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development;

d) Health and medical care assistance. Payment of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) premiums and medical assistance for hospitalization and provision of maintenance medicines from the Department of Health (DOH);

e) Educational assistance. Educational assistance to a maximum of two (2) children or other qualified beneficiaries of the KIA/KIPO personnel or WIA/WIPO personnel with TPPD; and provided further, that the said beneficiaries are not covered by existing scholarship programs of the AFP-Educational Benefits Systems Office and the National Police Commission (NAPOLCOM), and the Department of National Defense (DND)-Commission on Higher Education (CHED)-Philippine Association of State Colleges and Universities Study Grant Program; and

f) Employment assistance. Such reasonable assistance for the employment of the beneficiaries of the KIA/KIPO personnel and WIA/WIPO personnel with TPPD to be facilitated by the DILG or DND.

The above benefits and assistance provided through the CSBP may be adjusted, modified or removed, based on the availability of funds, or upon the instruction of the President, as may be recommended by government agencies implementing the CSBP.

Other forms of assistance provided by other government agencies, such as but not limited to, welfare subsidy, skills training on financial literacy and entrepreneurship, and livelihood and employment programs, may still be availed by the qualified beneficiaries, subject to compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations.

The grant of the component benefits and assistance under the CSBP shall be uniform and equal in each type and application and shall ensure the most reasonable and rightful amount for each type of assistance. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law, by any beneficiary against the national government, its departments, agencies or entities, including its officers, employees or agents.

SECTION 5. Implementation Mechanism. — The DILG and DND shall jointly lead in the implementation of the CSBP. To ensure that prompt action is taken to efficiently and expeditiously deliver the package of assistance to covered personnel and their qualified beneficiaries, the DILG and DND shall coordinate and integrate the efforts of government agencies such as, but not limited to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), DOH, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), DSWD, CHED, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), NHA, PhilHealth, NAPOLCOM, AFP and PNP.

All implementing agencies/offices shall streamline their rules and regulations governing access to the specific component benefit or assistance of the CSBP under their respective mandates, in accordance with relevant laws, rules and regulations.

SECTION 6. Regional Working Groups (RWGs). — RWGs shall be created in each administrative region to assist the national government agencies in implementing the CSBP, through the effective and efficient delivery of the benefits to the beneficiaries at the local level.

The RWG in each region shall be composed of the following:

a) Regional Directors of the DILG, DPWH, DepEd, DOLE, DOH, DTI, DSWD, CHED, TESDA, BSP, NHA, PhilHealth, NAPOLCOM and PNP; and

b) Personnel officers of the AFP and commanders of the AFP major services, unified commands, and other major ground units.

SECTION 7. Funding. — The funding for the implementation of this Order shall be sourced from existing appropriations of the implementing agencies of the component benefits under the CSBP, and such other appropriate funding sources as the DBM may identify, in coordination with the DILG and DND, subject to existing budgeting, accounting and auditing laws and regulations.

Funding requirements for the succeeding years shall be included in the respective budgets of government agencies implementing the CSBP.

SECTION 8. Reportorial Requirement. — All concerned agencies shall submit biannual implementation and budget utilization reports on the status of the CSBP to the DILG and DND, with a copy to be furnished the Presidential Management Staff and the DBM.

The DILG and the DND shall ensure that the benefits and assistance under the CSBP reach the intended beneficiaries, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of program implementation, and submit in the Office of the President, through the Office of the Executive Secretary, an annual report on the implementation of this Order.

SECTION 9. Separability. — If any part or provision of this Order shall be held unconstitutional or invalid, other parts or provisions hereof which are not affected shall continue to be in full force and effect.

SECTION 10. Repeal. — All other issuances inconsistent with this Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 11. Effectivity. — This Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 7th day of April, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Twenty.

 

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 116, No. 16, p. 3369 on April 20, 2020.