CREATING INVESTIGATING COMMITTEES ON VETERANS’ PENSION IN EACH MUNICIPALITY AND CHARTERED CITY AND ENJOINING ALL OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE GOVERNMENT TO RENDER NECESSARY ASSISTANCE TO APPLICANTS THEREFOR.
WHEREAS, Commonwealth Act No. 605 has been amended by Republic Act No. 539 so as to authorize the payment of pensions to veterans of the past Philippine revolutions or wars notwithstanding their physical, mental or financial conditions;
WHEREAS, such amendment has rendered unnecessary the services of provincial or city treasurers and district or city health officers who were designated members of investigating committees on pension created under Executive Order No. 304 dated October 8, 1940, as amended by Executive Order No. 26 dated November 15, 1946, and Executive Order No. 64 dated June 24, 1947, as well as the services of municipal treasurers who were charged thereunder with the duty of receiving applications for pension; and
WHEREAS, it is advisable to forestall difficulties and unnecessary expenses which applicants for veteran’s pension might encounter or incur in the preparation and presentation of their applications for pension;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ELPIDIO QUIRINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:
1. An Investigating Committee on Veterans Pension shall be created in each municipality and chartered city to be composed of three competent veterans in the locality, who shall be appointed by the Chairman, subject to the approval of the Board on Pensions for Veterans: Provided, however, That if the required number of competent veterans is not available, the Chairman, subject to the approval of the Board, shall designate as many public officials as are necessary to complete the necessary number of members to constitute the Committee and shall, in either case, designate one among them as the Chairman of the Committee.
2. The Committee shall hold meetings whenever necessary in the municipal building or in. the city hall, as the case may be, and shall be charged with the duty of investigating applicants for veterans’ pension and their witnesses with a view to determining their rights to the benefits provided by the pension law.
3. It shall be the duty of any officer or employee of any branch, subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of the Government to assist or otherwise extend his or her cooperation to the Committee when so requested by the latter in connection with the performance of its functions to carry out the purpose of Commonwealth Act No. 605, as amended.
4. All officers and employees of the different branches, subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government are likewise directed to assist in every possible way, free of charge, any veteran-applicant who may solicit their aid in connection with the preparation and presentation of applications for veterans’ pension.
5. All Executive Orders, Administrative Orders, or parts thereof, inconsistent with any provisions of this Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
Done in the City of Manila, this 12th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-one, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the sixth.
(SGD.) ELPIDIO QUIRINO
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(SGD.) MARCIANO ROQUE
Acting Assistant Executive Secretary
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