SECTION 1. Title II of Republic Act Numbered Three hundred forty is amended by adding thereto a new section to be known as section 8-A, which shall read as follows:
"SEC. 8.-A. If an officer or enlisted man of the Armed Forces of the Philippines dies in line of duty or on account of any wound, injury or illness contracted in line of duty before completing twenty years of active service, he shall be considered as separated for the purposes of this title, and his surviving legitimate, adopted or acknowledge natural children and/or widow shall be entitled to receive, in equal shares and with the right of accretion, either (a) a gratuity payable in one lump sum equivalent to one month's base and longevity pay for each year of service rendered by the deceased, computed in the grade held by him at the time of his death, but which shall not, in any case, be less than three months' base and longevity pay, or (b) an annual gratuity pay equivalent to fifty per centum of two and one-half per cent of the annual base and longevity pay due the deceased had he been retired on the date of his death for each year's active service rendered but not exceeding seventy-five per cent of the total base and longevity pay to which he might have been entitled had he been retired on the date of his death, such gratuity pay to be paid in equal monthly installments: Provided, That no payment under this section shall be made to children after they have attained the age of twenty-one or have married, nor to the widow if she remarries: Provided, further, That nothing herein shall prevent the surviving widow and/or children from claiming benefits under Republic Act Numbered Six hundred ten, in lieu of the benefits herein provided, if the former are more advantageous to them."