MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino unveiled yesterday more medical benefits for Filipino veterans at the Araw ng Kagitingan rites at Mount Samat in Bataan.
Speaking to honor the veterans, Aquino said the Veterans Memorial Medical Center accredited 599 hospitals nationwide as provincial and regional extensions for better access to medical services.
The list of medical services that the government will subsidize has been widened to include cataract operation, coronary angiogram and cardiac bypass, he added.
Direct remittance pension servicing system also expected the release of financial benefits for the veterans, he added.
Leading the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Fall of Bataan, Aquino said the list of pensioners had been cleaned up to make sure money would go to rightful beneficiaries.
“Ghost pensioners” were depriving the veterans and their beneficiaries of their benefits and privileges, he added.
The government was continuing with the reforms to uplift the lives of the poor as debt of gratitude to those who sacrificed and fought for the country’s freedom, Aquino said.
Leslie Bassett, deputy chief of mission of the US embassy, said the US Department of Veterans Affairs celebrated 90 years of service to veterans in the Philippines this year.
“Every month we are honored to distribute over $8 million in benefits to eligible Philippine veterans,” she said.
“In the last two years under the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Program, over 18,000 Filipino veterans have received payments totaling over $220 million.
“When you grow up privileged to live in freedom, you must never forget the sacrifice and suffering those heroes endured.
“We who are here today should search our souls to measure whether we could be as strong, as brave, as selfless and as forgiving as the heroes of Bataan.”
Bassett said almost 7,000 people in New Mexico participated in a reenactment of the Death March this year.
Young people participated and the Bataan commemorations took place across the US at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, at an Armory in Minnesota “and in many homes where veterans and their memories still dwell,” and among sailors of the USS Bataan, she added.
Former President Fidel Ramos was warmly welcomed at Monday’s ceremonies at Mt. Samat. Present were military and government officials.
Hundreds of people were not able to hike to the Shrine because of strict security protocol of the Presidential Security Group. – With Raffy Viray, Ding Cervantes