WHEREAS, General Orders No. 11, dated October 1, 1972
providing for an increased rate of base pay for commissioned officers on
active duty contains a proviso excluding1 officers who retired from the
service prior to September 30, 1972 from the readjustment of their
gratuity or pensions;
WHEREAS, the persons who were excluded from the benefits of
said General Order were mostly officers who, during the bleak years 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 lucky 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 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 September 30, 1972 are now receiving their monthly pensions based
on the existing pay scales of officers in the active service;
WHEREAS, all other 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 spiralling prices of prime
commodities:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines by virtue of the powers vested in me 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, General
Order No. 1 dated January 17, 1973, do hereby decree and order that: