The raise went where the risk is highest: pay levelling at the base of the pyramid
Third, second and first corporals and second sergeants are the ranks most exposed in operations. In 2026 they received increases of up to 25.6%, far above inflation. It cost 232 billion pesos.
An across-the-board raise is politically comfortable and operationally unfair. In an institution where risk is not evenly distributed, distributing the raise evenly means rewarding equally the person behind a desk and the person in combat.
The 2026 decision went the other way: concentrate the increase on the ranks most exposed in military operations.
The four prioritised ranks
The differential increases were as follows: Third Corporal, 25.6%. Second Corporal, 23.2%. First Corporal, 20%. Second Sergeant, 11.9%. These are the ranks actually in the field, in direct command of troops, and the ones that appear most frequently in casualty figures.
The rest of the sector's personnel received a 7% increase. With inflation for the period at 5.1%, that is 1.9 points above the cost of living. Nobody lost purchasing power. But the gap with the prioritised ranks is deliberate and large.
What that gap means in practice
A 7% raise against 5.1% inflation preserves purchasing power and adds a small margin. A 25.6% raise against that same inflation adds around twenty real points: if something cost one hundred pesos last year and now costs one hundred and five, a third corporal receives one hundred and twenty-five. In terms of annual spending capacity, that differential is worth roughly two and a half additional months.
What it cost and what remains
Budget investment in the 2026 levelling was 232 billion pesos. The stated criterion was to begin at the base of the pyramid — where risk is highest and pay was lowest — with the explicit expectation that subsequent ranks be levelled by later administrations.
