G.R. No. 189649 -

Ruling

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: 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] 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. Respondents sought reconsideration, [12] but the RTC denied the same in an Order [13] dated May 25, 2007, the decretal portion of which reads: 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. Jeremias died on September 30, 2007 [15] and was substituted by his wife, herein petitioner. On May 25, 2009, the CA granted respondents' appeal. The dispositive portion of the CA decision reads: 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