FM respects the govt's decision on approving the law for reactive 158’s PNTL officers

DILI, 29 september 2023 (TATOLI) – A Timorese civil society, namely Fundasaun Mahein (FM), pays full respect to the decision made by the ninth government through the council ministers on approving the decree laws to reactive 158 National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL, acronym Portuguese) officers.

Director of FM, Nelson Belo, stated that it is government policy to reactivate 158 PNTL officers who have been pensioned since June 26.

“We respect and appreciate the policy of the ninth government to reactivate 158 PNTL officers. But we recommended to the ministerial government to review and amend the decree laws to provide conditions allowance for pension members to live in dignity,’’ Director of FM, Nelson Belo, told TATOLI Agency in Gricenfor on friday.

He added that it needed to improve the process of pension conditions for 158 PNTL members so they could benefit from pension allowance.

Thus, they have the right to live with dignity, as they have dedicated the rest of their lives to serving as police officers.

Mr. Belo said that the government has the responsibility to treat them with dignity based on the legal framework. The government should also focus on treating them at the age of 60.

Also, according to the statement, the amount that compensation beneficiaries receive as an old-age pension will be cut. The period during which such professionals remain in retired status is counted as having been granted active status for purposes of remuneration, vacation, advancement, promotion, and retirement.

It is known that According to the provisions of the draft resolution, “compensation continues as long as they remain in retirement status, which corresponds to the amount of the monthly basic salary and additional allowances that these police officers are entitled to receive if they have not yet graduated to retirement status.”

The pension statute has been announced by eight governments based on the PNTL pension decree law number 69/2022. Article 128 mentions that the PNTL member actively doing duty in any kind of circumstance will be obeyed: