BATASAN COMPLEX, Quezon City — Still pending for signature by President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr., the Congress-approved 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) has allocated ₱17 billion for the ₱10,500 monthly subsistence allowance for soldiers and other military personnel.

This was announced by House Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list representative Marcelino Libanan who said that "both the House of Representatives and the Senate, largely through the efforts of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, agreed to provide a 133-percent increase in the daily subsistence allowance for all soldiers—from ₱150 to ₱350—to further improve their welfare,” “We are aggressively investing in the well-being of our soldiers, who are at the core of our national defense, even as we spend an average of P30 billion every year to upgrade the military’s hardware and systems under the revised AFP modernization program,” Libanan pointed out.

Currently, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has a total of 165,423 military personnel: 114,576 in the Philippine Army; 27,930 in the Philippine Navy (including the Philippine Marines) and 22,917 in the Philippine Air Force.

In addition to the subsistence allowance, Libanan clarified that military personnel will also receive common allowances for economic relief, clothing/uniforms, laundry, quarters and other stipends as part of their remuneration. Dubbed as the 'common-to-all' compensation package, this includes longevity pay, midyear bonuses, yearend bonuses, cash gifts, productivity enhancement incentives and performance-based bonuses.