R.A. 10154 - Early Release of Retirement Pay, Pensions, Gratuities and Benefits

Republic of the Philippines

CONGRESS OF THE PHILIPPINES

Metro Manila

Fifteenth Congress

First Regular Session

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, two thousand then.

REPUBLIC ACT No. 10154

AN ACT REQUIRING ALL CONCERNED GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO ENSURE THE EARLY RELEASE OF THE RETIREMENT PAY, PENSIONS, GRATUITIES AND OTHER BENEFITS OF RETIRING GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1.  Declaration of State Policy. -- It is hereby declared that it is the policy of the State to ensure the timely and expeditious release of the retirement pay, pensions, gratuities and other benefits of all retiring employees of the government.  Public officers and employees who have spent the best years of their lives serving the government and the public should not be made to wait to receive benefits which are due to them under the law.  Accordingly, it is hereby mandated that highest priority shall be given to the payment and/or settlement of the pensions, gratuities and/or other retirement benefits of retiring government employees.


Section 2.  Period for Release of Retirement Benefits. -- The head of the government agency concerned, the President and other responsible officers of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the President and other responsible officers other Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG Fund) and/or the Secretary and other responsible officers of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) shall ensure the release of the retirement pay, pensions, gratuities, and other benefits of a retiring government employee within a period of thirty (30) days from the date of the actual retirement of said employee: Provided, That all requirements are submitted to the concerned government agency at least ninety (90) days prior to the effective date of retirement: Provided, further, That in the case of the GSIS, it shall pay the retirement benefits of the retiring employee on his/her last day of his/her service to the government, pursuant to the GSIS Charter.


Section 3.  Retiring Employees With Pending Cases.  -- In the case of retiring government employees with pending cases and whose retirment benefits are being lawfully withheld due to possible pecuniary liability, the head of the agency where such case is pending shall ensure that the said case shall be terminated and/or resolved within a period of three (3) months from the date of the retirement of the concerned employee: Provided, That in case the concerned agency fails to terminate and/or resolve the case within the said period without any justifiable reason(s), the retirement benefits due to the employee shall be immediately released to him/her without prejudice to the ultimate resolution of the case, except, when the delay is deliberately caused by the retiring employee.






Section 4.  Coverage.  -- This Act shall cover all branches, agencies and/or instrumentalities of the government, including government-owned and/or controlled corporations (GOCCs), excluding personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and shall be applicable both to applications for compulsory retirement and optional or early retirement as authorized by law.


Section 5.  Penal Provisions. -- The unjustified failure and/or refusal to release the pension, gratuities and other retirement benefits due to a retiring government employee within the periods prescribed above or to comply with any provision of this Act shall be a ground for the filing of administrative disciplinary action against the erring officer(s) and/or employee(s).  Such erring officer(s) and/or employee(s) shall, after hearing and due proceedings, be penalized with suspension from the service without pay from six (6) months to one (1) year, at the discretion of the disciplining authority.


This penalty shall not apply if the release of the retirement benefits could not be accomplished due to force majeure and other insuperable causes.  In such cases, the thirty (30)-day period shall be counted from the time such cause(s) cease(s) to exist.


Section 6.  Implementing Rules and Regulations. -- The Civil Service Commission (CSC), after consultation and coordination with the government agencies and/or instrumentalities affected by this Act, including, but not limited to, the GSIS, the Pag-IBIG Fund, the Constitutional Commissions, the Legislature and the Judiciary, as well as the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), shall promulgate and issue the appropriate rules and regulations for the proper implementation of this Act.


Such rules and regulations shall include provisions prescribing uniform periods for the advance filing of retirement applications in the different agencies concerned, as well as standard period for the processing and release of claims for retirement benefits, gratuities and allowances which will pinpoint responsibility in case of delay in release thereof.


Section 7.  Separability Clause. -- If any provision, part or portion of this Act shall be held as invalid, the provisions, parts or portions of this Act not otherwise affected thereby shall remain valid and effective.


Section 8.  Repealing Clause. -- All laws, executive issuances, orders and rules and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or any part thereof are hereby repealed, amended and/or modified accordingly.


Section 9.  Effectivity. -- This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the country.


Approved.


(Sgd.)  FELICIANO BELMONTE JR.             (Sgd.) JUAN PONCE ENRILE
Speaker of the House of Representatives           President of the Senate


This Act which is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 2748 and House Bill No. 3862 was finally passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on May 30, 2011 and June 1, 2011, respectively.


(Sgd.) EMMA LIRIO REYES                     (Sgd.) MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP
    Secretary of Senate                                         Secretary General
                                                                  House of Representatives


APPROVED: (July 14, 2011)

(Sgd.) BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III

President of the Philippines

Rights of Union Members

The rights and conditions of membership laid down in Art. 241 of the Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended, may be summarized as follows:

(1) Political right -- the member's right to vote and be voted for, subject to lawful provisions on qualifications and disqualifications.

(2) Deliberative and decision-making right -- the member's right to participate in deliberations on major policy questions and decide them by secret ballot.

(3) Rights over money matters -- the member's right against excessive fees; the right against unauthorized collection of contributions or unauthorized disbursement; the right to require adequate records of income and expenses and the right of access to financial records; the right to vote on officers' compensation; the right to vote on proposed special assessments and be deducted a special assessment only with the member's written authorization.

(4) Right to information -- the member's right to be informed about the organization's constitution and by-laws and the collective bargaining agreement and about labor laws.

These are rights as union members. As employees, the union members retain the right to directly present grievances to the employer at any time. This right is protected in Article 255, last sentence.

Laws Protecting Women Workers

Justice Regalado, in the case of Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Co. vs. NLRC, et al., (G.R. No. 118978, May 23, 1997) paints a canvas of Philippine laws extending protection to women workers.

"The Constitution, cognizant of the disparity in rights between men and women in almost all phases of social and political life, provides a gamut of protective provisions.  To cite a few of the primordial ones, Section 14, Article II on the Declaration of Principles and State Policies, expressly recognizes the role of women in nation-building and commands the State to ensure, at all times, the fundamental equality before the law of women and men.

"Corollary thereto, Section 3 of Article XIII (the progenitor whereof dates back to both the 1935 and 1973 Constitution) pointedly requires the State to afford full protection to labor and to promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all, including an assurance of entitlement to tenurial security of all workers. 

"Similarly, Section 14 of Article XIII mandates that the State shall protect working women through provisions for opportunities that would enable them to reach their full potential. 

"Corrective labor and social laws on gender inequality have emerged with more frequency in the years since the Labor Code was enacted on May 1, 1974 as Presidential Decree No. 442, largely due to our country's commitment as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

"Principal among these laws are Republic Act No. 6727 which explicitly prohibits discrimination against women with respect to terms and conditions of employment, promotion, and training opportunities.  Republic Act No. 6955 which bans the "mail-order-bride" practice for a fee and the export of female labor to countries that cannot guarantee protection to the rights of women workers.

"Republic Act No. 7192, also known as the 'Women in Development and Nation Building Act,' which affords women equal opportunities with men to act and to enter into contracts, and for appointment, admission, training, graduation, and commissioning in all military or similar schools of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

"Republic Act No. 7322 increasing the maternity benefits granted to women in the private sector.  Republic Act No. 7877 which outlaws and punishes sexual harassment in the workplace and in the education and training environment; and Republic Act No. 8042, or the 'Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995,' which prescribes as a matter of policy, inter alia, the deployment of migrant workers, with emphasis on women, only in countries where their rights are secure.  

"Likewise, it would not be amiss to point out that in the Family Code, women's rights in the field of evil law have been greatly enhanced and expanded.

"In the Labor Code, provisions governing the rights of women workers are found in the Articles 130 to 138 thereof." 

ART. 130. Nightwork Prohibition.  -- No woman, regardless of age, shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work, with or without compensation:

(a)  In any industrial undertaking or branch thereof between ten o'clock at night and six o'clock in the morning of the following day; or

(b)  In any commercial or non-industrial undertaking or branch thereof, other than agricultural, between midnight and six o'clock in the morning of the following day; or

(c)  In any agricultural undertaking at nighttime unless she is given a period of rest of not less than nine (9) consecutive hours. 

ART. 131.  Exceptions. --  The prohibitions prescribed by the preceding Article shall not apply to any of the following cases:

 (a)  In cases of actual or impending emergencies caused by serious accident, fire, flood, typhoon, earthquake, epidemic or other disasters or calamity, to prevent loss of life or property, or in cases of force majeure or imminent danger to public safety;

(b)  In case of urgent work to be performed on machineries, equipment or installation, to avoid serious loss which the employer would otherwise suffer;

(c)  Where the work is necessary to prevent serious loss of perishable goods;

(d)  Where the woman employee holds a responsible position of managerial or technical nature, or where the woman employee has been engaged to provide health and welfare service;

(e)  Where the nature of the work requires the manual skill and dexterity of women workers and the same cannot be performed with equal efficiency by male workers;

(f)  Where the women employees are immediate members of the family operating the establishment or undertaking; and

(g)  Under other analogous cases exempted by the Secretary of Labor in appropriate regulations.

ART. 132. Facilities for Women. -- The Secretary of Labor shall establish standards that will insure the safety and health of women employees.  In appropriate cases, he shall by regulations, require employers to:

(a)  Provide seats proper for women and permit them to use such seats when they are free from work and during working hours, provided they can perform their duties in this position without detriment to efficiency;

(b)  To establish separate toilet rooms and lavatories for men and women and provide at least a dressing room for women;

(c)  To establish a nursery in a workplace for the benefit of the woman employees therein; and

(d)  To determine appropriate minimum age and other standards for retirement or termination in special occupations such as those of flight attendants and the like.