GMA orders agencies to help veterans claim benefits

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo has ordered the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to help aging and sick Filipino World War II veterans claim their benefits from the United States government.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the two agencies have the best data and resources to track down and assist surviving veterans in Metro Manila and the provinces.

This developed as an 85-year-old World War II veteran suffered a heart attack while lining up to file his claim for compensation with the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs office at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City yesterday.

Delfin Ramoran of Poblacion, Makati City was with his daughter Maria Paz Corpus when he collapsed and was rushed to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, Quezon City where he was declared brain dead.

Medical reports at the VMCC Intensive Care Unit also showed that Ramoran’s blood pressure dropped.

Remonde warned veterans and their families against unscrupulous groups offering services to help them claim $9,000 from the US government’s $787-billion stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama last Feb. 19.

He said the DILG and the DSWD could also offer free shuttle services for veterans to enable them to reach regional offices set up by the US Embassy and the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO).

Defense Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina, concurrent executive director of the PVAO, said they could process up to 200 applicants a day based on papers they finished on the first day of filing of claims.

“Yesterday, the US Veterans Affairs was able to give priority numbers to 200 applicants, so now we know that we can only process the same number of applicants in a day. Those who would not be entertained are told to keep their priority numbers and return the next day if they exceed the daily capacity,” he said.

Carolina said that the USVA also increased their representatives at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City to speed up claims processing and accommodate more applicants.

He added that those in the provinces could file at PVAO field offices nearest them so they do not have to go to Manila.

In Basco, Batanes, only eight surviving WW II veterans will benefit from the US grant.

The eight are the remaining members of the BISUMI Hunters ROTC guerrillas 9 organized in 1943 by then 3rd lieutenant Geronimo Cabal, a freshman at the Philippine Military Academy, and 3rd lieutenant Teofilo Valones of the Philippine Army.

Cabal is now a US citizen, while Valones died in 1985.

The surviving veterans are Vicente Agas, 92; Jose Estorpe, 93; Manuel Valones, 95; Redenciona Castano, 82; Salvador Estrella, 83; Pablo Valientes, Jose Belgado, 95; and Mariano Loreto, 90. – Paolo Romero, James Mananghaya, Marvin Sy, Jack Castano, Jaime Laude