REPEALING THE PROVISIONS OF REPUBLIC ACTS NUMBERED SEVENTEEN HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN, THIRTY-FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE, THIRTY-SEVEN HUNDRED NINETY-SIX AND PRESIDENTIAL DECREE 578 A…

WHEREAS, under Section 3-A of Republic Act No. 1797 amending
Republic Act No. 910, Section 2-A of Republic Act No. 3595 amending
Republic Act No. 1568, Republic Act No. S796 amending Republic Act No.
340, as amended and Presidential Decree 578. rates of pensions of
retired Justices of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, Auditor
General, Chairman and Commissioners of the Commission on Elections, and
officers and enlisted men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,
respectively, are authorized to be adjusted to the prevailing rates of
salaries actually being received by the respective counterparts of those
retirees;

WHEREAS, the present Constitution has doubled or nearly
doubled the former rates of salaries of certain Constitutional officials
and has likewise provided for the salary standardization of
non-constitutional officials and employees in the government offices,
including those in government-owned or controlled corporations so as to
strike a happy balance between the salaries of constitutional officials
and non-constitutional officials and correspondingly make more equitable
and fair the pay of those in the lower rank in line with the
constitutional ideal to “bridge the gap between the rich and the poor;”

WHEREAS, the laws above-stated which authorize the rates of
pensions to vary with the changes of rates of pensions to vary with the
changes of rates of salaries of those still in the service are (1) per
se class legislation setting apart for distinct privilege a limited
select group of officials; (2) fraught with budgetary implications for
the reason that the government has to appropriate from time to time the
corresponding increase in the rates of pensions of the retirees
concerned; and (3) inequitable and unfair to have those still sweating
it out in the active service and those already in restful retirement
receiving the same compensation from the public treasury;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the
Constitution, do hereby order and decree:

The provisions of Republic Act No. 1797 amending Republic Act
No. 910, Republic Act No. 3595 amending Republic Act No. 1568, Republic
Act No. 3796 amending Republic Act No. 340, as amended, and Presidential
Decree 578 authorizing the rates of pensions of retired Justices of the
Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, Auditor General, Chairman and
Commissioners of the Commission on Elections, and officers and enlisted
men of the Armed forces of the Philippines, respectively, to be adjusted
to the prevailing rates of salaries actually being received by those
still in the service, are hereby repealed, the repeal to retroact as of
the ratification of the Constitution on January 17, 1973 and effective
immediately with respect to Presidential Decree No. 578.

Done in the City of Manila, this 24th day of January, in the year of
Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-five.