DBM releases P2.9 B for veterans’ pension

MANILA, Philippines - A total of P2.9 billion was released last month for the unpaid Total Administrative Disability (TAD) pension of some 16,980 living World War II veterans.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said yesterday the release of funds followed the validation of the proposed beneficiary list submitted by the Philippine Veteran Affairs Office (PVAO).

“This release supports the government’s budgetary assistance to our living war veterans and their families. It is likewise in fulfillment of President Aquino’s pledge to ensure that timely pension payments are made to our World War II veterans who fought bravely for the country and sacrificed much in the process,” he said.

The latest release will support the pension requirements of validated veterans from 1994 to 2012, chargeable against the Pension and Gratuity Fund (PGF), he added.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin reported that the PVAO was able to generate P4 billion in savings in 2010, primarily due to the implementation of automated teller machines (ATM) in delivering pension benefits.

This amount enabled the agency to pay TAD arrears of World War II veterans from 2003 to 2009.

The DBM compared the list of living World War II veterans submitted by PVAO with the list of regular Armed Forces pensioners, who are considered veterans by virtue of their age. This process of validation was facilitated to ensure that only veterans who served during WWII and in Vietnam and Korea would be included in the fund release.

Abad said: “Since making the switch from check to electronic payments for our veterans’ pensions, we were able to update the pensioner database and clear it of ghost entries, allowing us as well to improve transparency and accountability in the government’s pension payment system. Even more notable is the fact that digitization measures like this have enabled us to successfully generate savings, which can be used to support future releases for unpaid pension.”