Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has renewed calls to grant monthly hazard pay to public prosecutors who routinely face danger in the line of duty.
Under House Bill 2664, prosecutors assigned to high-risk cases—including those involving terrorism, illegal drugs, graft and corruption, money laundering, and similar offenses—will be entitled to a monthly hazard pay of ₱5,000. The amount is proposed to be tax-free and must not be deducted from other benefits currently received by the prosecutors.
“In the performance of their functions, they are assigned to investigate and prosecute cases involving national security, dangerous drugs, terrorism and notorious criminals,” Romualdez said, citing the critical and often dangerous roles prosecutors play.
The Speaker, a law graduate of the University of the Philippines and president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), emphasized that many prosecutors have received death threats, and at least 13 have been killed over the past decade while fulfilling their duties.
The bill mandates the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to craft the implementing rules within 60 days of the bill’s enactment. Funding will initially be sourced from the DOJ budget and integrated into the national budget in subsequent years.
Joining Romualdez as authors of the bill are Tingog party-list Representatives Yedda Marie Romualdez, Andrew Julian Romualdez, and Jude Acidre.
A similar version of the bill was previously approved on third and final reading during the last Congress.
