MikeLigalig.com

By Gloria Jane Baylon

At the close on Tuesday of claims applications for one-time benefits for living World War II veterans, 12,846 were approved and paid a total of more than P7.2 billion by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) in Manila, according to the U.S. embassy.

February 16, 2010 was the final day for such veterans to apply for one-time benefits created by the 2009 Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Between February 17, 2009 and February 16, 2010, USDVA held 22 outreach events in partnership with Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) offices around the Philippines.

In addition, USDVA-Manila Director Jon Skelly and his staff appeared in dozens of TV and radio interviews to explain the benefit and the process, and to remind veterans of the application deadline of February 16, 2010. The USDVA even accommodated applications on February 15, even though it was a U.S. legal holiday.

Skelly thanked the Philippine news media and the PVAO in helping get out the word about the benefits claims. “Thanks to the Philippine news media and our partners at the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, we were able to get the word out about the benefit to veterans living all over the Philippines and in the United States,” said Skelly in a statement to media.

“We had thousands of applicants on the final two days at our office and at PVAO, so we really did get the word out,” he pointed out.

To date, of some 40,000 applications received, around 7,000 have been duplicate applications, and 14,500 cases remain pending, the embassy clarified. Those cases will be adjudicated without delay, so that qualified veterans will get their benefit as quickly as possible, according to the USDVA. The USDVA-Manila staff includes 222 Filipino employees, working hard every day to serve these honored veterans.

USDVA also said that veterans who have already applied for this one-time benefit will receive an acknowledgement receipt from USDVA. There is no need to obtain additional military service information unless requested by the USDVA.

“We continue to pay around million monthly in previous and continuing benefits to Filipino veterans and their family members,” Skelly further said. “My staff will gladly review records of individual Filipino WW II veterans or their survivors because we want to make sure these heroes are receiving all benefits to which they are entitled.” (PNA)

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