758 Phil. 305
PERALTA, J.:
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered ordering General Hermogenes Esperon, Jr., as Chief of Staff of the AFP, Brigadier General Fernando Zabat, as the Commanding Officer of the AFP Finance Center, Commodore Reynaldo Basilio, as Chief of the AFP-GFIQ Management and Fiscal Office, and Captain Theresa M. Nicdao, as Pension and Gratuity Officer of the Pension and Gratuity Management Center, or any of their respective successors and those taking instructions from them as agents or subordinates, to:The RTC found that the issue for resolution is the applicability of RA No. 340 and PD No. 1638 upon Jeremias' retirement benefits. It found that he retired as a commissioned officer of the AFP in 1976; thus, RANo. 340 is the law applicable in determining his entitlement to his retirement benefits and not PD No. 1638 which was issued only in 1979. Article 4 of the Civil Code provides that "laws shall have no retroactive effect unless the contrary is provided." PD No. 1638 does not provide for such retroactive application. Also, it could not have been the intendment of PD No. 1638 to deprive its loyal soldiers of a monthly pension during their old age especially where, as here, the right had been vested to them through time. RA No. 340 does not provide that the loss of Filipino citizenship would terminate one's retirement benefits; and that PD No. 1638 does not reduce whatever benefits that any person has already been receiving under existing law.
- immediately reinstate the name of petitioner in the list of retired AFP Officers, and to resume payment of his retirement benefits under RA 340; and
- release to [petitioner] all retirement benefits due him under RA 340 which accrued to him from March 2005 continuously up to the time his name is reinstated in the list of AFP retired officers.[11]
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant Motion for Reconsideration is hereby DENIED, considering that the questioned decision has not yet attained.its finality. The Motion for Execution in the meantime is hereby DENIED.[14]Aggrieved, respondents elevated the case to the CA. After the submission of the parties' respective memoranda, the case was submitted for decision.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant appeal is GRANTED. The appealed decision is REVOKED and SET ASIDE.[16]In so ruling, the CA found that while it is true that Jeremias retired in 1976 under the provisions of RA No. 340, as amended, which does not contain any provision anent cessation or loss of retirement benefits upon acquiring another citizenship, PD No. 1638, which was signed in 1979, effectively repealed RA No. 340, as amended. Section 27 of PD No. 1638, which provides that the name of a retiree who loses his Filipino citizenship shall be removed from the retired list and his retirement benefits terminated upon such loss, was correctly made applicable to Jeremias' retirement benefits. Logic dictates that since Jeremias had already renounced his allegiance to the Philippines, he cannot now be compelled by the State to render active service and to render compulsory military service when the need arises. The CA found that for the writ of mandamus to lie, it is essential that Jeremias should have a clear legal right to the thing demanded and it must be the imperative duty of respondents to perform the act required which petitioner failed to show; thus, mandamus will not lie.
RESPONDENT COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED GRAVE REVERSIBLE ERROR IN RENDERING THE ASSAILED DECISION AND RESOLUTION WHICH SET ASIDE AND REVERSED THE 26 FEBRUARY 2007 DECISION OF THE QC RTC BECAUSE:Petitioner contends that her husband's retirement from the active service in 1976 was pursuant to the provisions of RA No. No. 340 as PD No. 1638 was not yet in existence then, and there was nothing in RA No. 340 that disqualifies a retired military personnel from receiving retirement benefits after acquiring foreign citizenship. The concept of retirement benefits is such that one is entitled to them for services already rendered and not for those to be made at a future time. Retirement benefits due petitioner's husband under RA No. 340, is an acquired right which cannot be taken away by a subsequent law. PD No. 1638 does not expressly provide for its retroactive application. Respondents, being officers of the AFP tasked to implement the provisions of RA No. 340 have neglected their function thereunder by delisting petitioner's husband as a retiree, thus, mandamus is proper.PD 1638 should not have been applied and cannot be used against petitioner as her husband's retirement and pension were granted to him by the AFP under RA 340 which was not superseded by PD 1638, a later statute.
Petitioner correctly availed of the remedy of mandamus to compel the reinstatement of his pension and benefits from the AFP under RA 340 as PD 1638 was not applicable to him.
Sec. 5. Officers and enlisted men placed in the retired list shall be subject to the rules and articles of war and to trial by court-martial for any breach thereof. At any time said officers and enlisted men may be called to active service by the President. Refusal on the part of any officer or enlisted man to perform such services shall terminate his right to further participation in the benefits of this Act provided he resides in the Philippines and is physically fit for service. Such fitness for service shall be determined by applicable regulations.The afore-quoted provision clearly shows how a retiree's retirement benefits may be terminated, i.e., when the retiree refuses to perform active service when called to do so provided that (1) the retiree resides in the Philippines and (2) is physically fit for service. There is no other requirement found in the law which would be the reason for the termination of a retiree's retirement benefits. Petitioner's husband was never called to perform active service and refused to do so, however, his retirement benefit was terminated. The reason for such termination was his loss of Filipino citizenship based on Section 27 of PD No. 1638, to wit:
Section 27. Military personnel retired under Sections 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 shall be carried in the retired list of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The name of a retiree who loses his Filipino citizenship shall be removed from the retired list and his retirement benefits terminated upon such loss.We find that the CA erred in applying PD No. 1638 to the retirement benefits of petitioner's husband.
Section 27. Military personnel retired under Sections 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 shall be carried in the retired list of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The name of a retiree who loses his Filipino citizenship shall be removed from the retired list and his retirement benefits terminated upon such loss, (emphasis supplied)Notably, petitioner's husband did not retire under those above-enumerated Sections of PD No. 1638 as he retired under RA No. 340.
"A right is vested when the right to enjoyment has become the property of some particular person or persons as a present interest" (16 C.J.S. 1173). It is "the privilege to enjoy property legally vested, to enforce contracts, and enjoy the rights of property conferred by the existing law" (12 C.J.S. 955, Note 46, No. 6) or "some right or interest in property which has become fixed and established and is no longer open to doubt or controversy" (Downs vs. Blount 170 Fed. 15, 20, cited in Balboa vs. Farrales, 51 Phil. 498, 502).Petitioner's husband acquired vested right to the payment of his retirement benefits which must be respected and cannot be affected by the subsequent enactment of PD No. 1638 which provides that loss of Filipino citizenship terminates retirement benefits. Vested rights include not only legal or equitable title to the enforcement of a demand, but also an exemption from new obligations after the right has vested.[28]
The due process clause prohibits the annihilation of vested rights. "A state may not impair vested rights by legislative enactment, by the enactment or by the subsequent repeal of a municipal ordinance, or by a change in the constitution of the State, except in a legitimate exercise of the police power" (16 C.J.S. 1177-78).
It has been observed that, generally, the term "vested right" expresses the concept of present fixed interest, which in right reason and natural justice should be protected against arbitrary State action, or an innately just and imperative right which an enlightened free society, sensitive to inherent and irrefragable individual rights, cannot deny (16 C.J.S. 1174, Note 71, No. 5, citing Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Inc. vs. Rosenthal, 192 Atl. 2nd 587).[27]
Section 33. Nothing in this Decree shall be construed in any manner to reduce whatever retirement and separation pay or gratuity or other monetary benefits which any person is heretofore receiving or is entitled to receive under the provisions of existing law.Section 33 of PD No. 1638 is clear that the law has no intention to reduce or to revoke whatever retirement benefits being enjoyed by a retiree at the time of its passage. Hence, Section 35 provides for an exception to what the decree repealed or modified, i.e., except those necessary to preserve the rights granted to retired or separated military personnel.x x x x x x x x x
Section. 35. Except those necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Decree and to preserve the rights granted to retired or separated military personnel, all laws, rules and regulations inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 3. Petition for mandamus. - When any tribunal, corporation, board, officer or person unlawfully neglects the performance of an act which the law specifically enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust, or station, or unlawfully excludes another from the use and enjoyment of a right or office to which such other is entitled, and there is no other plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, the person aggrieved thereby may file a verified petition in the proper court, alleging the facts with certainty and praying that judgment be rendered commanding the respondent, immediately or at some other time to be specified by the court, to do the act required to be done to protect the rights of the petitioner, and to pay the damages sustained by the petitioner by reason of the wrongful acts of the respondent.A writ of mandamus can be issued only when petitioner's legal right to the performance of a particular act which is sought to be compelled is clear and complete. A clear legal right is a right which is indubitably granted by law or is inferable as a matter of law.[29] A doctrine well-embedded in our jurisprudence is that mandamus will issue only when the petitioner has a clear legal right to the performance of the act sought to be compelled and the respondent has an imperative duty to perform the same.[30] The remedy of mandamus lies to compel the performance of a ministerial duty.[31] A purely ministerial act or duty is one that an officer or tribunal performs in a given state of facts, in a prescribed manner, in obedience to the mandate of a legal authority, without regard to or the exercise of its own judgment upon the propriety or impropriety of the act done.[32] If the law imposes a duty upon a public officer, and gives him the right to decide how or when the duty shall be performed, such duty is discretionary and not ministerial.[33]