Service Credited.
Section 21
SEC. 21. Service Credited.—(a) For the purpose of and when used in this Act, "Government Service" means and shall include all the service rendered by the person in all offices, bureaus, agencies, or instrumentalities of the national, provincial or municipal governments. "Service as a commissioned officer" shall include service as cadet of the Bureau of Coast and Geodetic Survey, and service as an officer or enlisted person of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, including recognized guerrilla units during World War II. The phrase "continuous active service" means uninterrupted services in any of the preceding categories. (b) Whenever a provision of this Act prescribes a specified number of years of service for retirement, separation or entitlement to a benefit or mode of payment in money, it shall be understood that the years specified are complete years of three hundred and sixty-five days each. However, in computing the amount of benefits payable to an individual which is reckoned upon his years of service, a fraction of a year amounting to six months or more on his total creditable service shall be counted as a complete year, and any such fraction of less than six months shall be disregarded. (c) Officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey who have retired optionally and receive a lump sum retirement pay under any other Act may avail of the full benefits of this Act by having their lump sum retirement pay charged to the three years pension provided in Section twenty-three of this Act. They will then be entitled to receive an amount equal to the difference between the said three years pension and the lump sum retirement pay that they received when they retired optionally. In these cases, such officers shall be entitled to receive the monthly gratuity provided in Section three of this Act starting from the date immediately following the end of the three years pension period as provided in Section twenty-three of this Act. The accumulated amount from such date to the date immediately before the effectivity of this Act shall be paid to the officer or officers concerned, and monthly gratuity payments will be paid to such officers from the date of the effectivity of this Act.