Retired PAO lawyers win P139-M retirement benefit case vs DBM

Retired public attorneys won their case in court for the release of their retirement benefits worth P139 million.

In a 42-page decision, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 230 nullified the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) Legal Services Opinion No. 14 issued on November 2015. The said opinion stated that lawyers from the Public Attorneys Office (PAO) are not entitled to the same retirement package as that of  prosecutors and judges.

But PAO insisted in their case that under Section 5 of the PAO Law, a PAO lawyer shall have the same qualifications for appointment, rank, salaries, allowances and retirement privileges as those of a public prosecutor.

The court in its ruling agreed with PAO saying that they are entitled to the same retirement privileges as those of their counterparts in the National Prosecution Service under the PAO law (Republic Act 9406) and that reference shall be made to the retirement benefits of the prosecutors in the National Prosecution Service presently governed by the NAPROSS Law (Republic Act No. 11071).

“Respondent DBM (which) is hereby directed to cause the immediate release of the retirement benefits of herein petitioners PAO retirees in accordance with DBM and GSIS Joint Circular No. 2013-1 and Budget Circular No. 2013-1, in relation to the PAO Law and NAPROSS (National Prosecution Service) law,” the court said in the decision signed by Judge Maria Gilda Loja-Pangilinan.

The court said the PAO retirees “should comfortably enjoy their retirement in the relative security of a regular monthly pension and should not be denied benefit and left without means of sustenance.”

The court added that it is only fitting that a public servant who served for a great number of years be rewarded.

“A perceived ambiguity or uncertainty in the application of the law should not serve to deny them such recognition and reward,” the court said.

But the court denied the claim of the petitioners that they were entitled to the payment of actual and compensatory damages in the form of interests on benefits and also P800,000 in exemplary and moral damages.

The P139 million is the total amount of retirement gratuity package for the 40 public defenders using as basis for its computation  Republic Act 9406 or the PAO Law in relation to RA 10071 or the National Prosecution Service Law (NAPROSS Law).

Of the 40 retired PAO lawyers, eight are already bedridden while two are  dead. JE/rga