Vets have until Feb. 16 to file claims to USDVA

CEBU, Philippines - World War II veterans who failed to apply last year were given second chance to avail of the one-time lump sum benefits provided under the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The United States Embassy Department of Veterans Affairs held yesterday the second outreach activity for qualified WWII veterans in Central Visayas at the Camp Lapu-Lapu in Barangay Apas where they accepted new applications, conducted interviews and entertained request for verification of early applications.

The first outreach activity was held in February last year where around 1,450 veterans in the region, including living spouses of deceased ones, applied. Nationwide, applications received reached about 33,600.

 The US government is targeting only 12, 000 veterans who belong in their list of legitimate WWII veterans eligible to avail of the one-time benefits. Of this number, only 300 veterans are expected in Region 7.

Because the number of applications exceeds the target, USDVA failed to meet its deadline September last year so they extended the deadline to February 16 this year.

The activity yesterday was intended to encourage all veterans, who feel they may be eligible, to apply immediately and submit their application early enough to ensure receipt by USDVA before the deadline.

In section 1002, Title X of the ARRA, Filipino veterans living in the US would receive a one time lump sum payment $15,000 while those non-US citizen would get $9,000.

Emmanuel Pabiloña, head of the Philippine Veterans Affair Office in the region said that there are already 4,600 non-US citizen veterans and 4,500 US citizen veterans all over the country who have received the payment.

Pabiloña said that during the war, Filipino soldiers were not receiving the same amount of salary given to American soldiers who fought against Japan.

The equity provision of the ARRA only seeks to provide equal treatment to Filipino soldiers who have also suffered and faced great danger but survived during the war. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)