PVAO pushes P15 K hike in pension of war vets

MANILA, Philippines - World War II veterans would get a monthly pension of P20,000, an increase from the current P5,000, if a bill pending in Congress is passed into law.

Defense Undersecretary Ernesto Carolina, Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) administrator, said the increase in monthly pension will be a big help for the 14,000 veterans who are now in their 90s.

“The number of our World War II heroes is fast-dwindling as around 200 of them are dying yearly,” he said.

Carolina said the bill would only benefit World War II and Vietnam War veterans.

Retirees from the Armed Forces of the Philippines would not be covered, he added.

Carolina said the PVAO is also subsidizing the PhilHealth membership of World War II veterans to help them cope with their medical needs.

“They are all old, and they often go to the doctor,” he said in Filipino.

“For the government’s support, the PVAO subsidizes their PhilHealth. This is in line with the President’s declaration that no veteran should pay for his own medicine.”

The P5,000 monthly pension of the 14,000 surviving World War II veterans is lower that the monthly compensation of post World War II veterans, who are receiving monthly pension equivalent to the base pay of their last rank before retirement.

The oldest surviving World War II veteran is 106 years old and living in Baguio City.

Last year, the oldest World War II veteran died in Bongabong, Nueva Ecija.  He was 111 years old.

Data from the PVAO show  the government still has close to P16 billion in unpaid disability obligations to world War II veterans and their spouses.

The unpaid total administrative disability (TAD) to surviving spouses of World War II veterans who have reached 70 between April 9, 1984 and December 2009 but died before 2010 is P2.26 billion.

Pensioners belonging to this group number 13,693, the most prioritized in the payment of disability arrears. – With Alexis Romero