Home Sweet Home: The Quality of Life of Filipino Military Retirees

Abstract

The central goal of this research study is to be able to describe the quality of life of Filipino military men after their retirement. Specifically, it strives to know the level of awareness, understanding, and utilization of their rights, privileges, and benefits upon their retirement; to identify the contributing factors affecting their satisfying quality of life; to familiarize with their perceptions of retirement and retirement plans; and to describe how their perceived QOL can inform development of policies and program reforms on military retirement. The population of the world is said to be rapidly aging. The number of older people increases as time goes by. The United Nations had made several projections about the imminent population of the world for the next 20 or more years. Inevitably, this older population would be comprised of retirees, in particular military retirees, who would continue to make the population of the world expanding. Basically, it is for this reason that military retirees is significantly needed to be studied just like other groups of people in our society as they also comprise the expanding population of our world. For that, this research had mainly used qualitative approach in order to find out the quality of life of our very own military retirees, whether they live a satisfying quality of life or a problematic one. The variables used in this study included the quality of life as the dependent variable and the three domains namely the being, belonging, and becoming domain as the study’s independent variables. The researcher chose the Philippine Army retirees as the respondents for this study due to several reasons and after thorough consideration. Relevant theories have guided this study, which are the Disengagement theory, Activity theory, Continuity theory, and the Lifecourse theories. This study utilized a Formulative or Explorative research design with the intentions of increasing the familiarity with the focus of investigation, clarifying the concepts mentioned in this study, and providing a census of the respondents’ urgent problems. All ranks of the Philippine Army were included for this research, starting from age 40 years old, until late 70s. The age requirement was decided after finding out that there is an optional early retirement for them as early as 40 years old, aside from the compulsory retirement at the age of 56. Respondents were obtained from government agencies designated for them such as the Pension and Gratuity Management Center in Camp Aguinaldo and Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City. This study used purposive and snowballing chain or non-probability sampling procedures as the sampling methods. Study instruments included scheduled interviews and survey questionnaires, which comprised of semi-structured and open-ended questions. First-hand and secondary data were utilized for this study. Finally, SPSS was used to analyze the demographics obtained after post-coding the responses of the 48 respondents, three respondents from each rank. The science that is concerned with the study of ageing is called Gerontology. Social gerontology integrates three distinct perspectives - individual, social, and societal - at two levels of analysis, which are the micro scale and macro scale. Successful ageing is thus defined by both longevity and quality of life and that these are upheld by the interaction of three sets of factors: social engagement and participation, reduction of disease, and promotion of high levels of physical and mental functioning (Victor, 2005). There are various stereotypes and myths about aging, such as Senility inevitably accompanies old age; Most Old People Are Alone and Isolated from Their Families; The Majority of Old People Are in Poor Health; Old People are more likely to be victimized by Crime than Younger People; The Majority of Old People Live in Poverty; Old People Who Retire Usually Suffer a Decline in Health and Early Death. Ageism refers to the prejudice against older adults in society. Customarily, retirement is defined as the formal withdrawal from the labor market and gainful economic activity at a specified chronological age typically associated with the age at which benefits and pensions are made available. Retirement may be seen as a legal, economic and socially defined construct. It is not a ‘natural’ concept just like most people have presumed. Mandatory, forced, or encouraged retirement may have a number of various effects on retirees. This is called the retirement syndrome. Early retirement can be at any age, but is normally before the age (or tenure) needed for eligibility for support and funds from government or employer-provided sources. By and large, attitudes about retirement are positive, regardless of age and gender. There are various phases through which the retirement role is managed, taken on, and relinquished (Atchley, 2000). These phases are Pre-retirement', Honeymoon', Immediate Retirement Routine', Rest and Relaxation', Disenchantment', Reorientation', Retirement Routine', and Termination of Retirement. Retirement is tremendously seen as a positive time of life by respondents all over the world, and moderately few people relate it with any negative feelings. Globally, around two thirds of respondents associate retirement with freedom, happiness and satisfaction. North America (84%) has the largest proportion of respondents who associate retirement with positive feelings, followed by Europe (68%), Latin America (65%), Asia (60%) and the Middle East and Africa (48%). There is over 90 percent of the old population receiving certain income support through a public retirement pension system administered by the federal government and colloquially referred to as Social Security. Military men, whether navy, air force, army, or constabulary, have two options upon retirement; they can decide either to take optional retirement or wait for their compulsory retirement. The longer the active service a man has rendered in the military, the greater are his/her benefits. Based on the 2000 edition of Military Handbook of the AFP, there are six benefits of retired Military Personnel. Section 2 of this handbook specifies the following benefits: (1) Retirement Pension, (2) Disability Pension, (3) Commutation of Accumulated Leave, (4) Refund of Contributions- RSBS, (5) Refund of Contributions-PAG-IBIG, and (6) Educational Benefits (Appendix D). The most recognized among these is the retirement pension, which refers to the monthly pay equivalent to 2 1/2 % for each year of active service rendered but not more than 85 % of the monthly base pay and longevity pay of the next higher grade than the permanent grade last held. Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos had played a very significant role in uplifting the quality of life of Filipino military men. The amount of free time expands enormously with retirement. Church attendance appears to be comparatively steady, when a decline that may be health-related, emerges. A good number of people maintain the political orientation of their youth, which is altered by general trends in society. Housing is an important aspect of the quality of life of older people and can improve (or hamper) some of the social, physical or financial aspects of ageing. At present, the housing circumstances of the generation of older people largely reflect housing decisions taken earlier in the life course. Quality of Life is an area of study that has attracted an ever escalating amount of interest over the past two decades, specifically in the areas of health, rehabilitation, disabilities studies, and social services but also in medicine, education and the like. The World Health Organization defines the quality of life as the “individuals’ perceptions of their position in life, in the context of the cultural and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns.” The total number of respondents interviewed for this research study is 48 Philippine Army retirees. The researcher obtained three retirees from each military rank, summing to the total number of respondents. Most of them are aged 51 to 55 and 71 to 75. Majority is married and lived with their wives and children; hence prevalent nuclear type of family. The predominant religion among respondents is Roman Catholicism. Furthermore, most of them do not have and do not know what e-mail accounts are. Most of the respondents have many children. Being retirees, majority of them do not have work at all while those who still work have jobs like security guards and business. They are working for additional income. With regard to their retirement, most of them took compulsory retirement or retired at the age of 56. They have many other reasons why they retired and they are actually retired for more than 5 years. When asked about their retirement problems, the greater part of them has really problems specifically about their benefits and pensions. Their problems predominantly consisted of slow processing, old rate pension, and inadequate amount of monthly pensions. When asked to define what was retirement, respondents specified multiple responses; though most of them said that retirement is the time for rest and enjoyment of civilian life. Many of them associated retirement with freedom. Most of them suggested that the government can help them through substantial increase in their benefits and pensions. Regarding the nutritional, mental, and physical health satisfactions of the respondents, vast majority of them said that they were satisfied. To sum up, the majority of respondents has a satisfactory quality of life in terms of their family relations, work satisfaction, quality of friendships and relationship with God, retirement benefits and pensions, leisure activities, overall health and well-being, and current life as military retirees.