WHEREAS, under Section 10, Article X of the New Constitution, which took effect on January 17, 1973, the annual salaries of the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court have been increased to seventy-five thousand pesos (P75,000) and sixty-thousand pesos (P60,000), respectively, which increases in pay have been made effective by Presidential Decree No. 103, dated January 18, 1973;

WHEREAS, Section 6, Article XV of the New Constitution, has removed the income tax exemption privileges previously enjoyed by members of the Judiciary;

WHEREAS, in view of the removal of such exemption and considering the duties and responsibilities of the Justices of the Court of Appeals and the Judges of other inferior courts, it is necessary that their salaries be fixed at commensurate levels;

WHEREAS, under Appropriation Decree No. 233, there has already been appropriated the sum of P14,185,000 for salary differentials of the Justices, Judges, and other officials of the Judiciary;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, do hereby decree as follows:

SECTION 1. The provisions of existing laws to the contrary notwithstanding, the Presiding Justice and Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals and the Presiding Judges and Judges of other inferior courts shall receive the following salaries:

(a) The Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals shall receive a salary of P54,000 per annum; and each Associate Justice shall receive a salary of P50,000 per annum.
(b) The Judges of the Courts of First Instance, Circuit Criminal Courts, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts shall each receive a salary of P40,000 per annum.
(c) The Presiding Judges of the Court of Tax Appeals, the Court of Agrarian Relations and the Court of Industrial Relations shall each receive P42,000 per annum; and each of the Associate Judges of said courts shall receive P40,000 per annum.

SEC. 2. The salary differentials resulting from the adjustment of salaries as provided in this Decree shall be paid out of the specific appropriation in Presidential Decree No. 233, which is hereby programmed for expenditure effective as of January 1, 1974.

Done in the City of Manila, this 3rd day of January, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.