(INQUIRER) MANILA, Philippines — The bicameral conference committee approved on Tuesday a bill that seeks to amend the law on the fixed term of Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officers.
The panel convened to reconcile the conflicting provisions of Senate Bill No. 1849 and House Bill No. 6517.
“Following more than four-hour deliberations, the bicameral conference committee managed to thresh out the disagreeing provisions,” Sen. Jinggoy Estrada wrote on Twitter.
The committee agreed to set the retirement age of all military officers and personnel at 57, excluding the AFP chief of staff, who “will retire upon completion of a tour of duty or upon the relief of the President.”
Estrada earlier said that the measure was aimed at ending end the “grumblings” in the AFP as the retirement law affected the morale of the military.
Estrada headed the upper chamber’s conferees during the bicameral conference discussions as he sits as the chairperson of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security.
Iloilo Fifth District Rep. Raul Tupas, Estrada’s counterpart in the House of Representatives, was present in the deliberations.
The House version of the bill was given a final nod in December last year while the Senate bill hurdled its third reading on March 6.