Ejercito Nacional de Colombia

According to the high-ranking official, the well being of the forces has become a social policy for the Ministry of Defense.

Silva explained that this policy is comprised of three elements:

"The first is to improve, within fiscal restrictions, the assignment of resources for the well-being of our men," he expressed and set an example of the decision by postponing the purchase of armored vehicles, devoting that budget to the payment of subsidies for professional soldiers.

Secondly, the Minister stated that he seeks to apply the principle of convergence, by which the Ministry would increase bonus payments at all levels of the public Armed Forces, including those to professional soldiers.

"Professional soldiers are, from the point of view of our Armed Forces, a relatively new innovation. The decree creating them as such is from the year 2000. It is a scheme of consolidation and evolution and the convergence of the different formats a strategy that I want to highlight," he manifested.

Thirdly, Silva highlighted the quest for excellence in the quality of services that these members of the forces show, announcing the reform of military and police sanity systems by a committee he presides.

Family subsidies

The defense minister explained to Congressmen the new events that have taken place within the family subsidies that are currently in place for professional soldiers.

According to the Minister, this benefit originated in 2003 based on the interpretation of a decree which defines the basis for calculating these amounts, determining an average of $36,000 pesos a month.

Later on, in the year 2008, a legal concept permitted new calculations of this subsidy to an average of $254,000 pesos.

He added that this increase will be beneficial to all soldiers and marine infants married or living with a spouse, which increased the figure and quickly covered 22,000 uniformed personnel. In this respect, he stated that the Army and the Navy currently have more than 85,000 soldiers and marine infants.

Silva pointed out that these increases generate a significant impact on the military budget for the Ministry of Defense, which added to the legal concerns on the procedure of this modification, cause that the Ministry of Defense suspend the payment of the subsidy as of last July 1, until these issues were resolved.

Upon carrying out this suspension "we found a negative impact on the morale of our men and along with the Ministry of Treasury decided to study a way to confront the situation," he stated and added that the matter implies great complexity of legal and budget level.

The Minister explained that as a result of these actions, Decree 3770 September 30, 2009 was issued, establishing professional soldiers and marine infants as recipients of the family subsidy, under the same figure established in 2008.

According to the Minister, this implies budget cuts and adjustments in an amount of nearly $75 billion pesos.

"We will not buy any more tanks, because tanks can be bought when we need them. The morale and the trust of our men are irreplaceable. The public Armed Forces have the commitment to attend to internal threats and return public order to all Colombians. This is the priority," he stated.

Nonetheless, he explained that due to the enormous resources required, it would be necessary that this subsidy be kept only for professional soldiers and Marine infants who began to receive the payment as of the issuing of the decree and not for those who joined the institution afterwards.

"Just keeping the current subsidy for the 22,000 national soldiers would mean an additional average budget for 2010, and from there on until 2027, which is the calculation for the last payment of this subsidy, totaling annual payments of more than $100 billion pesos," he said.



Lastly, he pointed out the different progress in well-being and for the members of the Armed Forces among which are the following:

Assigning of funds for retirement for professional soldiers. Since 2004 they have been given access to this right which they did not have before.

Disability pension. For all members of the Armed Forces reducing the requirement for disability acquired while in service from 75 to 50% in order to obtain this pension.

Survivor pension. It is no longer necessary to have a minimum amount of time in order for family members of the public Armed Forces member killed in combat or on a mission, if the death occurred outside of the required time which is only one year.

Reduction in discounts for retirement pension. Basic salary discounts went down from 8% to 5% of the salary earned.

Public order bonus for professional soldiers. As of 2006 a special public order bonus has been in place for professional soldiers, which they did not have before. At the beginning, they would receive 5% of the basic salary, with a gradual 5% interest annually until reaching 25% by the year 2010.

Increased service premium. As of 2007 Armed Forces and National Police officers, noncommissioned officers and service personnel were granted an increase in their service premium, going from 33% to 50% over their yearly salary.

Housing subsidy for professional soldiers. By the end of 2006 there was a housing subsidy established for professional soldiers with more than 15 years of service, granting them the right to receive 23 minimum monthly salaries and 2009 in his amount was increased to 41 monthly minimum salaries. Between 2007 and 2009 there have been housing subsidy recognitions to more than 2500 soldiers and marine infants for an amount of $28 billion pesos.

Agreements for discounts. Simple and uniformed personnel from the Armed Forces and their family may enjoy important discounts and recreation, leisure, hotels, air tickets, education, vehicles, and credit facilities, among others thanks to the agreements executed by the direction of veterans and well-being of the Ministry of Defense with more than 45 local and nationwide companies.