Legal basis and related law amended
- Commonwealth Act No. 645 amends Subsection (c) of Section 22 of Commonwealth Act No. 1, known as the National Defense Act, as amended by Commonwealth Act No. 569.
- Commonwealth Act No. 645 further amends the same provisions as previously amended by Commonwealth Act No. 569.
- The amended text also references subparagraph (d) of Section 22 regarding authorized numbers of commissioned officers.
Core officer appointment rule and age limits
- Subsection 22(c) provides that, except as otherwise authorized, all appointments of regular officers shall be in the grade of third lieutenant.
- Subsection 22(c) requires that applicants for regular officer appointments must be at least 21 years old and not more than 26 years old at the time of appointment.
- Subsection 22(c) establishes that priority in filling vacancies in the grade of third lieutenant shall be given, in order, to:
- graduates of the Military or Naval Academy;
- graduates of senior military training units in schools and colleges;
- enlisted men who have served more than one year in the Army of the Philippines; and
- others.
Special grades for JAG, Medical, and Chaplain
- Subsection 22(c) provides that original appointments in the Judge Advocate General’s Service, the Medical Service, and the Chaplain Service shall be in the grade of first lieutenant.
- Subsection 22(c) requires that applicants for such original appointments must be between 25 and 35 years of age at the time of appointment.
- Subsection 22(c) requires that for appointment to the Judge Advocate General’s Service, the applicant must have engaged in the practice of law for at least five years.
- Subsection 22(c) grants that, upon passage of the Act, the first lieutenant grade shall also be given to officers in those services whose present grade is lower than first lieutenant.
Presidential authority for early vacancies (six-year period)
- Subsection 22(c) authorizes the President that for the six years following the approval of this Act, the President may fill vacancies in any commissioned grade in the Army of the Philippines.
- Subsection 22(c) limits such appointments during the six-year period to specified categories of eligible persons/officers, including:
- officers of the Philippine Constabulary, who are citizens of the Philippines;
- officers of the Philippine Scouts;
- officers of the Officers’ Reserve Corps, U.S. Army;
- graduates of the United States Naval Academy who are citizens of the Philippines; and
- such others who have legally and honorably severed their connection with the active elements of the Army of the United States prior to their appointment in the Army of the Philippines;
- and other persons who qualify through professional and military examination prescribed for the purpose.
- Subsection 22(c) requires for the listed U.S. Army-connected categories that, prior to appointment in the Army of the Philippines, they have legally and honorably severed their connection with the active elements of the Army of the United States.
Academic appointments without rank and roster rules
- Subsection 22(c) authorizes the President to appoint professors and assistant professors in specified Military Academy departments without military rank.
- Subsection 22(c) authorizes the President, for such professors and assistant professors, to set compensation as the President may prescribe.
- Subsection 22(c) also authorizes the President to appoint these professors and assistant professors in commissioned grades of the regular force as the President determines.
- Subsection 22(c) mandates that when carried in commissioned grades, these professors and assistant professors shall be placed on a separate roster apart from the general roster.
- Subsection 22(c) prohibits any transfer with military rank of these professors to other branches of the Army.
Temporary promotion to major without vacating commission
- Subsection 22(c) allows an officer below field rank who is designated as chief of an army or service, or Superintendent or Commandant of cadets in the Philippine Military Academy, to be promoted temporarily to the rank of major.
- Subsection 22(c) provides that this temporary promotion to major occurs without vacating the officer’s permanent commission.
- Subsection 22(c) states that the temporary rank of major is in addition to the authorized strength of the Officer Corps prescribed in subparagraph (d) of this section.