Armed Forces Uniform Retirement System Act

Optional vs compulsory retirement rules

Section 1(a) allows retirement only upon satisfaction of the minimum service period (at least twenty years), a request, and Presidential approval.
Section 1(b) mandates retirement upon the service-age thresholds (thirty years; or sixty years of age with fifteen years of continuous active service), unless continued service is required for the good of the service.
Section 5 continues the military character of retirement: an officer or enlisted man on the retired list remains subject to the rules and articles of war and trial by court-martial for breaches.
Section 5 authorizes the President at any time to call retired officers and enlisted men to active service.
Section 5 provides that refusal to perform such service terminates the individual’s right to further participation in the benefits of Republic Act No. 340, provided the person resides in the Philippines and is physically fit for service.
Section 5 directs that physical fitness shall be determined by applicable regulations.
Section 6 provides that when called for active service, retired officers and enlisted men receive the full pay of their rank or grade.

Gratuity and retirement pay formulas

Section 2 requires that upon retirement under Section 1, the officer or enlisted man may, at option, receive either a gratuity or annual retirement pay.
Section 2 provides the gratuity option: equivalent to one month of the officer’s or enlisted man’s base and longevity pay on the date of retirement for every year of service, payable in one lump sum.
Section 2 provides the annual retirement pay option: two and a half per cent of the annual base and longevity pay received on the date of retirement for each year of active service, payable in equal monthly installments.
Section 2 caps the annual retirement pay rate: it may not exceed seventy-five per cent of the total base and longevity pay received on the date of retirement.
Section 2 imposes exclusions from the retirement pay rate: the rate of retirement pay does not apply to officers or enlisted men separated through the action of Classification or Efficiency Boards and Courts-Martial, or as a result of their own misconduct, willful failure, or resignation, except as provided in Section 8(d).
Section 4 provides continuity of status: officers and enlisted men heretofore and hereafter retired remain borne on the Army Register and are placed in the retired list.

Death benefits for survivors

Section 3 grants death benefits upon the death of an officer or enlisted man who has been retired or would have been entitled to retire at the time of death under Section 1.
Section 3 awards survivors in equal shares with right of accretion to the surviving legitimate, adopted or acknowledged natural children and/or the widow.
Section 3 sets the benefit amount: fifty per centum of the annual retirement pay the decedent was receiving or would have been entitled to receive if not deceased.
Section 3 provides payment method: payable in equal monthly installments.
Section 3 imposes a total ceiling: in no case shall total payable exceed an amount equivalent to one month base and longevity pay at the time of death or retirement (whichever comes first) multiplied by the years of active service rendered, less the total already received as annual retirement pay at the time of death.
Section 3 cuts off benefits for children: no payment to children after they attain age twenty-one or marry.
Section 3 terminates widow’s benefit upon remarriage.
Section 3 bars any payment to the widow if the widow’s marriage to the deceased officer or enlisted man was contracted after retirement.

Separation, discharge, and disability benefits

Section 8 governs separation for an officer of the Regular Force separated by the President on recommendation of Classification or Efficiency Boards for causes not due to the officer’s own misconduct, willful failure, intemperate use of drugs or alcoholic liquor, or vicious or immoral habits.
Section 8(a) provides the discharge outcome for less than three years active service at separation: honorably discharged in the grade then held.
Section 8(b) provides the discharge outcome for three or more but less than ten years active service: honorably discharged in the grade then held with separation pay equal to three months’ base and longevity pay computed upon such grade.
Section 8(c) provides the discharge outcome for ten or more but less than twenty years active service: honorably discharged in the grade then held with separation pay equal to one months’ base and longevity pay for each year of active service computed upon such grade.
Section 8(d) provides the outcome for twenty or more years active service at the due date for separation: retired in the grade then held, under Sections 1 and 2.
Section 8 also provides disability separation rules: any officer or enlisted man separated from active service for physical disability not due to the officer’s or enlisted man’s own misconduct, willful failure, intemperate use of drugs or alcoholic liquor, or vicious or immoral habits shall be placed in the retired list.
Section 8 provides disability retirement benefits as either:
- a gratuity payable in one lump sum equivalent to one months’ base and longevity pay multiplied by years of active service, but not less than three months’ base and longevity pay; or
- an annual retirement pay equivalent to two and one-half per cent of annual base and longevity pay received at retirement for each year of active service, not exceeding seventy-five per cent of total base and longevity pay received at retirement, payable in equal monthly installments.

Credit for prior and interrupted service

Section 9 requires crediting service periods of an officer or enlisted man based on specified categories.
Section 9(a) grants full credit for active service rendered as a commissioned officer or enlisted man of designated Philippine forces (including Philippine Constabulary, Regular or Reserve Force, Army or Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Guard), and as a cadet in designated institutions, and service as a recognized guerrilla.
Section 9(a) provides a continuity rule for certain officers not immediately commissioned upon graduation: if prior to nineteen hundred thirty-six, and for reasons not due to the officer’s own act or omission, the officer is deemed to have been in active service for all purposes from the date of graduation.
Section 9(b) requires counting of U.S. Army/Philippine Scouts service up to July fourth, nineteen hundred and forty-six for determining whether minimum or maximum length of service under Section 1 is met.
Section 9(c) allows counting of the Section 9(b) service in computing retirement pay or gratuity under Section 2, or gratuity incident to separation for physical disability under the proviso contained in Section 8, only if the officer or enlisted man rendered at least ten years of active service in the Army or Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Section 9(c) bars double counting: no period of service for which the officer or enlisted man has received or is receiving retirement pay from the United States Government is counted in computing retirement pay or gratuity from the Philippine Government.
Section 9(c) provides a fallback rule: if the officer or enlisted man rendered less than ten years of service in the Army or Armed Forces of the Philippines, only the years actually served therein are counted.
Section 9(d) treats service time: any period of service amounting to six months or more is counted as a complete year.

Rank, computation base, and promotions

Section 10 requires retirement or separation in the next higher rank in which the officer is eligible for promotion under applicable laws and regulations.
Section 10 also allows retirement or separation in a higher temporary rank held at the time of retirement or separation.
Section 10 requires that gratuity or retirement pay under Section 2 and separation pay under Section 8 be computed based on the higher rank in which the officer is retired or separated.
Section 7 withdraws an officer placed on the retired list from command and from the active promotional list.
Section 7 provides that when recalled to active duty, the officer’s name remains carried in the retired list and the officer becomes eligible for promotion in the retired list while on active duty, if declared eligible under pertinent rules and regulations.
Section 7 requires that retired-list promotions be governed by seniority in the corresponding grade or rank, with seniority determined by the length of active service in each grade.

Appropriations and funding mechanics

Section 11 requires the annual appropriations for the Armed Forces of the Philippines under “Purpose IaPersonnel” to include sufficient amounts to cover payments under Sections 2, 3 and 8.
Section 11 also requires appropriations to cover pensions to officers and enlisted men heretofore retired under Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and ninety and to cover payments of gratuities to officers heretofore separated under section twenty-two (g) of Commonwealth Act Numbered One.
Section 11 authorizes a funding augmentation mechanism if appropriated funds are inadequate: the President may set aside any unexpended balance of appropriation at the end of every fiscal year to augment the original appropriation for the year.
Section 11 provides that the original appropriation and set-aside unexpended balance form a continuing Special Fund for carrying out the provisions of Republic Act No. 340.

Repeals and effectivity

Section 12 repeals Commonwealth Acts Numbered One hundred and fifty, as amended, and Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and ninety, section twenty-two (g), as amended, together with all other laws and Executive Orders or portions inconsistent with Republic Act No. 340.
Section 14 provides the general effectivity rule: Republic Act No. 340 takes effect upon approval.
Section 14 provides retroactive operation: the provisions of Sections 2 and 3 apply retroactively for officers and enlisted men who died after December eight, nineteen hundred and forty-one, and who did not apply for retirement under Commonwealth Act Numbered One hundred and ninety during their lifetime but were, at the time of death and by reason of length of service, otherwise entitled to retire under that Act.
Section 14 prohibits reduction: no provision of Republic Act No. 340 operates to reduce the retirement pay or gratuity any retired officer or enlisted man is receiving when the Act takes effect.
Republic Act No. 340 is approved on July 26, 1948.
H. No. 1865 is shown as the originating measure in the published bill history.