Executive Order No. 304




MALACAÑAN PALACE MANILA BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES [ EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 304, October 08, 1940 ] CREATING INVESTIGATING COMMITTEES ON VETERANS’ PENSION, REQUIRING CITY AND MUNICIPAL TREASURERS TO PERFORM CERTAIN DUTIES IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH PENSION AND ENJOINING ALL OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT TO RENDER NECESSARY ASSISTANCE TO APPLICANTS THEREFOR WHEREAS, Commonwealth Act Numbered Six hundred and five authorizes the payment of pensions to veterans of past Philippine revolutions or wars who are physically or mentally incapacitated to normally pursue their usual occupation, work, or employment, such incapacity not being due to any vice contracted after the approval of the said Act, or who, being over sixty years of age, have no apparent or hidden means of support; WHEREAS, in order to enable the Board on Pensions for Veterans to expedite or otherwise facilitate its work, it is necessary to create investigating committees that could help the said Board in the investigation of applications for veterans’ pension in the provinces and chartered cities, as well as to require all officers and employees of all bra subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Philippine Government to assist the Board in its work as the latter may request; and WHEREAS, it is advisable to forestall difficulties and unnecessary expenses which applicants for veterans’ pension might encounter or incur in the preparation and presentation of their applications for pensions; NOW, THEREFORE, I, MANUEL L. QUEZON, President of tin Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law do hereby order that— 1. An Investigating Committee on Veterans’ Pension is hereby created in every province and in the cities of Manila and Baguio. For the purpose of this Order, the chartered cities other than Manila and Baguio shall be considered at included in the provinces to which they belonged prior to their organization as chartered cities. In the provinces the Investigating Committee on Veterans’ Pension shall be composed of the following: The Provincial Inspector, P. C., Chairman The District Health Officer, Member; and The Provincial Auditor, Member and Secretary. In the cities of Manila and Baguio, the Investigating Committee shall be composed of the following: An officer of the Philippine Constabulary holding a rank not lower than that of Major, to be designated by the Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, Chairman; The City Health Officer, Member; and The City Auditor, Member and Secretary. The Board on Pensions for Veterans is hereby authorized to create such additional Investigating Committees as it may deem necessary in the provinces and cities that have extraordinarily large numbers of applicants, to be composed of such government officials as it may designate. The Investigating Committees on Veterans’ Pension created or to be created under this Order shall, under the direction of the Board on Pensions for Veterans and in accordance with rules which the latter shall prescribe, investigate all the applications for pension and supplementary information sheets filed by veterans residing in the municipalities and/or chartered cities assigned to them. 2. For the purposes of Commonwealth Act No. 605, particularly section 7 thereof, the City Treasurers of all chartered cities and the Municipal Treasurers of all municipalities are hereby charged with the duty of receiving for the Board on Pensions for Veterans the applications for pensions and supplementary information sheets filed by veterans residing in their respective municipalities and chartered cities, and other papers in connection with the pensions of veterans, and of keeping them until called for by the corresponding Investigating Committees, and of performing such other functions as may be assigned to them by the Board. 3. It shall be the duty of any officer or employee of any branch, subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Philippine Government to assist or otherwise extend his or her cooperation to the Board on Pensions for Veterans when so requested by the latter in connection with the performance of its functions to carry out the purposes of Commonwealth Act No. 605. 4. All officers and employees of the different branches. subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Philippine Government are likewise directed to assist in every possible way, free of charge, any applicant-veteran who may solicit their aid in connection with the preparation and presentation of applications for veterans’ pension. Done at the City of Manila this 8th day of October, in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and forty, and of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the fifth. (Sgd.) MANUEL L. QUEZON President of the Philippines By the President: (Sgd.) JORGE B. VARGAS Secretary to the President The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation