WHEREAS, General Order Numbered 11, dated September 30, 1972 providing for an increased rate of base pay for commissioned officers on active duty contains a proviso excluding officers who retired from the service prior to January 1, 1972 from the readjustment of their gratuity or pension based thereon;

WHEREAS, the persons who were excluded from the benefits of said General Order were mostly officers who, during the bleak year of World War II defended the Philippines at Bataan, Corregidor, and other war fronts, many of whom died in the process, many others became disabled, and the rest were fortunate to survive the war until they retired from the military service;

WHEREAS, these groups of retirees used to receive automatic readjustment of gratuity or pension every time a new rate of monthly base pay is prescribed for officers and enlisted personnel in the active service, pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act Numbered Three Hundred and Forty, as amended;

WHEREAS, officers who retired from the military service after December 31, 1975, are now receiving their monthly pensions based on the existing pay scales of officers in the active service;

WHEREAS, all government retirees in the civil service have recently been granted increases in their pensions due to the high cost of living brought about by the spiraling cost of prime commodities;

WHEREAS, Presidential Decree Numbered 854 dated December 22, 1975 provides for the establishment of new rates of monthly base pay of the officers and enlisted personnel responsive to the present economic conditions prevailing in the country;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution of the Philippines and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, General Order No. 1, dated January 17, 1973, do hereby decree and order that:

SECTION 1. The rates of retirement pensions or gratuity of commissioned officers and enlisted personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or the survivors of deceased personnel who retired or were separated prior to January 1, 1976 as provided for in Republic Act Numbered 340 shall be increased by absolute amounts equivalent to fifty per centum of the difference between pension rates for each grade based on military pay prescribed in Presidential Decree No. 854 and General Order No. 11 including the increase based on Budget Circular No. 240.

SECTION 2. The Secretary of National Defense shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the intent and purpose of this Decree.

SECTION 3. The sum of twenty-three million pesos is hereby authorized to be appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, in addition to the current budget of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and shall hereafter be included in the annual appropriations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, provisions of existing laws to the contrary notwithstanding.

SECTION 4. This decree shall take effect upon approval.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of December, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six.

 

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) JUAN C. TUVERA
		Presidential Executive Assistant