EN BANC
A.M. No. 04-10-07-SC
RE: REQUEST OF RETIRED JUSTICES RAMON A. BARCELONA, WENCESLAO I. AGNIR, JR., and OSWALDO D. AGCAOILI OF THE COURT OF APPEALS, RE: IMPLEMENTATION OF R.A. 9227
Gentlemen:
Quoted hereunder, for your information, is a resolution of this Court dated FEB 1 2005.
In their Letter dated September 27, 2004 addressed to this Court, retired Justices Ramon A. Barcelona, Wenceslao I. Agnir, Jr. and Oswaldo D. Agcaoili, of the Court of Appeals, request that the appellate court be ordered “to make the necessary adjustments in [their] five-year lump sum or monthly pensions, as the case may be,” on account of the implementation of Republic Act No. 9227.[1] Section 2 thereof provides:
Sec. 2. Grant of Special Allowances. – All justices, judges and all other positions in the Judiciary with the equivalent rank of justices of the Court of Appeals and judges of the Regional Trial Court as authorized under existing laws shall be granted special allowances equivalent to one hundred percent (100%) of the basic monthly salary specified for their respective salary grades under Republic Act No. 6758, as amended, otherwise known as the Salary Standardization Law, to be implemented for a period of four (4) years.
The grant of special allowances shall be implemented uniformly in such sums or amounts equivalent to twenty-five percent (25%) of the basic salaries of the positions covered hereof. Subsequent implementation shall be in such sums and amounts and up to the extent only that can be supported by the funding source specified in Section 3 hereof. Retired Justices Barcelona, Agnir, Jr. and Agcaoili aver that, while the first tranche of 25% of the special allowance has already been implemented with respect to incumbent Court of Appeals Justices, no adjustment has been made in the five-year lump sum payment of those Justices of the appellate court who have retired within the last five years, or in the monthly pension of those who retired earlier.
In requesting that the benefits in the form of special allowances under Rep. Act No. 9227 granted to incumbent Justices of the appellate court be likewise extended to retired Justices like themselves, retired Justices Barcelona, Agnir, Jr. and Agcaoili invoke A.M. No. 91-8-225-CA[2] dated October 24, 1995, where this Court pronounced that “from the moment a member of this Court or the Court of Appeals retires and for the entire five-year period following said retirement and continuing on during the residue of his or her natural life, he or she should not receive an amount less than what an incumbent receives as a salary or RATA.”
They posit that the “special allowance” under Rep. Act No. 9227 is a “benefit” that should likewise be granted to retired Justices in consonance with this Court’s ruling in A.M. No. 99-7-01-SC[3] dated January 16, 2001 that “all retired Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Justices shall receive equal pay/pension as the incumbents and that all new benefits granted the latter should likewise be granted the former.”
The Court finds merit in the request of the retired Justices of the appellate court.
In A.M. No. 04-11-06-SC dated December 1, 2004, this court granted the request of the retired Justices of the Supreme Court to upgrade their retirement gratuities so that the additional compensation granted by Rep. Act No. 9227 to incumbent justices be likewise given to the retired justices. We stated therein that the special allowances that are being received by the incumbent justices under Rep. Act No. 9227 are actually part of their increased basic salary. And under Section 3-A of Rep. Act No. 910, as amended by Rep. Act No. 1797, whenever the salary of an incumbent justice is increased, such increased salary shall be deemed to be the salary or retirement pension which a justice who retired was receiving at the time of cessation in office. Section 3-A of Rep. Act No. 910 as amended reads:
SEC. 3-A. In case the salary of Justices of the Supreme Court or of the Court of Appeals is increased or decreased, such increased or decreased salary shall, for purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the salary or the retirement pension which a Justice who as of June twelve, nineteen hundred fifty-four had ceased to be such to accept another position in the government or who retired was receiving at the time of his cessation in the office: Provided, That any benefits that have already accrued prior to such increase or decrease shall not be affected thereby.
Thus, the dispositive portion of A.M. No. 04-11-06-SC states:
WHEREFORE, the request of the retired justices is APPROVED. The retirement gratuities of the retired justices of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals shall include the special allowances given to incumbent justices pursuant to Republic Act No. 9227. A retiree who received a 5-year lump sum payment is likewise entitled to automatic adjustments after retirement.
Further, in our Resolution of January 25, 2005 in A.M. No. 04-11-06-SC, we reiterated that the special allowance under Rep. Act No.9227 is intended to be part of the basic salary of the justices, judges and all other positions in the judiciary of equivalent rank. Accordingly, in the said resolution, we approved the similar request of retired Justices of the Court of Appeals and the Sandiganbayan through Justices Pedro N. Ramirez, Alfredo Marigomen, conrado M. Molina, Narciso Atienza and Romulo S. Quimbo that the necessary adjustments be made in their five-year lump sum or monthly pensions, as the case may be, on account of the implementation of Rep. Act No. 9227. The dispositive portion of the said resolution states:
WHEREFORE, the request of the retired justices of the Court of Appeals and the Sandiganbayan is APPROVED. In sum, the retirement gratuities of the retired justices of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Sandiganbayan shall include the special allowance given to incumbent justices under RA 9227. A retiree of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Sandiganbayan, who received a 5-year lump sum payment, is likewise entitled to immediate automatic adjustments at the same 25% annual increment under RA 9227.
ACCORDINGLY, the request of retired Justices Ramon A. Barcelona, Wenceslao I. Agnir, Jr. and Oswaldo D. Agcaoili of the Court of Appeals is GRANTED. The appellate court is DIRECTED to make the necessary adjustments in their respective five-year lump sum gratuities to include the special allowances given to incumbent justices pursuant to Republic Act No. 9227.
Very truly yours,
(Sgd.) LUZVIMINDA D. PUNO
Clerk of Court
[1] An Act Granting Additional compensation in the Form of Special Allowances for Justices, Judges and All Other Positions in the Judiciary with the Equivalent Rank of Justices of the Court of Appeals and Judges of the Regional Trial Court, and For Other Purposes.
[2] Re: Request of the Retired Justices of the Court of Appeals for Re-adjustment of their Monthly Pension.
[3] Re: Request of Retired Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Justices for Increase/Adjustment of their December 1998 Pensions.