Amendments to R.A. No. 138 (Pay Status of AFP Personnel)

June 12, 1954

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1067

AN ACT TO AMEND CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT

SECTION 1. Section two of Republic Act Numbered One hundred thirty-eight is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 2.  The pay and allowances of military personnel are prescribed by law, and as long as a person is in the active military service of the Philippines he is entitled to receive pay and allowances corresponding to his rank or grade, unless said pay and allowances, or any portion thereof, have not accrued, or have been withheld or forfeited, under this Act or any other provision of law."

SECTION 2. Sections thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of Republic Act Numbered One hundred and thirty-eight are hereby amended to read, respectively, as follows:

"SEC. 13. No person in the military service who shall be absent from his regular duties on account of the effects of a disease, sickness or injury, which is directly attributed to and immediately follows his own misconduct, willful failure or the intemperate use of drugs or alcoholic liquor, shall, except as hereinafter provided, be entitled to any pay, as distinguished from allowances, for the period of such absence. acd

"SEC. 14. No person in the military service who shall be absent from his regular duties on account of the direct effects of a venereal disease due to his own misconduct, shall, except as hereinafter provided, be entitled to any pay, as distinguished from allowances, for the period of such absence: Provided, That such absence is within a period of one year following the appearance of the initial symptoms of such venereal disease, regardless of whether the appearance of the initial symptoms occurs prior or subsequent to the date of entry into the service.

"SEC. 15. Each person whose pay, as distinguished from allowances, is forfeited for a period in excess of one month at any one time pursuant to the provisions of sections thirteen and fourteen of this Act, shall be paid for necessary personal expenses the sum of five pesos for each full month during which his pay is so forfeited."

SECTION 3. Section eighteen of Republic Act Numbered One hundred thirty-eight is hereby amended to read as follows: cd

"SEC. 18. An enlisted man awaiting trial by court-martial, or the result thereof, is not entitled to receive, pay, as distinguished from allowances, until the result of the trial is known: Provided, That any enlisted man who is placed on a full duty status and performs regular duties while awaiting trial by court-martial, or the result thereof, shall be entitled to receive all his pay and allowances for the period of such duty, unless the same shall have been lawfully forfeited by the approved sentence of a court-martial prior to actual payment thereof to the enlisted man. For the purposes of this section, the restoration to full duty status of enlisted men awaiting trial by court-martial, or the result thereof, shall be as directed by the Chief of Staff, with the approval of the Secretary of National Defense."

SECTION 4. Section twenty-one of Republic Act Numbered One hundred thirty-eight is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 21. (a) Except as hereinafter provided in this section, officers and enlisted men lawfully detained or provisionally released on bail by the civil authorities pending the trial or final determination of their cases in the civil courts, or serving sentence of imprisonment, will receive no pay and allowances for the period of their absence from military control or custody.

"(b)  Except as hereinafter provided in this section, officers and enlisted men who have returned to military control following their release on bail or transfer to the custody of their respective commanding officers for safe-keeping, pending the trial or final determination of their cases in the civil courts, will receive no pay, as distinguished from allowances, for any period of absence from their regular duties by reason of the pendency of their cases before the civil courts. aisa dc

"(c)  Should any officer or enlisted man falling under subsections (a) or (b) of this section be unconditionally released by the civil authorities without trial, or after trial and acquittal, or if the case against him before the civil courts is dismissed or otherwise terminated without conviction, or if he shall have been sentenced to the penalty of destierro under Article two hundred and forty-seven of the Revised Penal Code, he shall be entitled to receive the pay and allowances, or pay, as the case may be, for the period of his absence from military control and/or regular duties: Provided, That the status of a person as absent without leave or in desertion immediately prior to the time of his arrest or detention by the civil authorities, and/or following his provisional or unconditional release therefrom, shall continue until his return to actual military control, irrespective of the final outcome of his case before the civil courts.

"(d)  Any officer or enlisted man who has returned to military control and performed regular duties pending the trial or final determination of his case before the civil courts, shall be entitled to receive all his pay and allowance during the period such duties have been performed, irrespective of the outcome of his case. The restoration to, or relief from, fully duty status of officers and enlisted men who have lawfully returned to military control or custody pending the trial or final determination of their cases before the civil courts, shall be as directed by the Chief of Staff, with the approval of the Secretary of National Defense: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed as relieving the proper commanding officer or officers of military personnel accused before the civil courts from the responsibility of producing the person of the accused at the time and place required by the lawful order of the proper civil authorities.

"(e)  Nothing in this section shall operate or be construed to repeal or in any way modify existing laws and regulations relating to the suspension from office of any officer by the President."

SECTION 5. Republic Act Numbered One hundred thirty-eight is hereby further amended by inserting the following provisions between sections twenty-three and twenty-four thereof:

"ARTICLE VII

"WITHHOLDING OR STOPPAGE OF PAY TO SATISFY PECUNIARY LIABILITY TO THE GOVERNMENT"

"SEC. 23-A (a) When it has been administratively determined, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of National Defense shall prescribe, that an officer or enlisted man is pecuniary liable to the Government for the loss, damage or deterioration of government property resulting from his abuse or negligence in the keeping, use or disposition of such property, the Chief of Staff may direct the proper disbursing officer to collect the amount of such liability in monthly installments by deduction from the monthly pay, as distinguished from allowances, of such officer or enlisted man: Provided, That the aggregate sum of such deductions for any month shall not exceed two- thirds of the payee's authorized rate of pay for that month: Provided, further, That whenever any part of the pay of an officer or enlisted man for a certain month shall have been legally forfeited or otherwise legally withheld, then no deduction under this subsection shall be so made as to reduce the pay actually received by the payee for that particular month below one-third of his authorized rate of pay therefor. An administrative finding, determination or order made by the Secretary of National Defense or the Chief of Staff pursuant to the provisions of this sub-section shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Executive Department. casia

"(b)  Whenever, upon the final settlement of the accounts of any accountable or disbursing officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Auditor General, or his authorized representative, shall have found, and certified to the existence of, a balance of public money to be due to the Government from the said officer, the Secretary of National Defense may, in his discretion, direct that the officer's monthly pay, or any portion thereof, be withheld and applied to the full restitution or reimbursement of the amount due the Government: Provided, That, in his discretion, the Secretary of National Defense may direct that all or a portion of the pay of any such accountable or disbursing officer be withheld pending the final settlement or adjustment of his accounts: Provided, further, That nothing in this subsection shall operate or be construed as precluding any other remedy under existing laws, for the collection of any indebtedness to the Government, or for the restitution or reimbursement of public funds by accountable or disbursing officers.

"(c)  The withholding of, or deduction from, the pay of any officer or enlisted man pursuant to this section need not await, or be made to depend upon, the result of any criminal proceeding instituted against him for misappropriation, embezzlement, malversation, loss or damage to Government property or funds, and other offenses connected with the custody, care or use of Government property and funds. "

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval. Nothing in this Act shall operate or be construed to affect pay and allowances corresponding to any period prior to the effectivity of this Act, nor to determinations of entitlement or non-entitlement thereto.

Approved: June 12, 1954

 

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 50, No. 7, p. 2957 in July 1954