Noy pays tribute to war vets, soldiers in Ayungin

MT. SAMAT, Bataan, Philippines – President Aquino paid tribute yesterday to World War II veterans and today’s Filipino soldiers for their dedication to duty and country.

Speaking at the 72nd Araw ng Kagitingan rites at the Mt. Samat memorial, Aquino said the nation salutes the World War II veterans and today’s Filipino soldier.

Aquino said Marines guarding Ayungin Shoal in Palawan led by 1Lt. Mike Pelotera have been at sea for nearly five months, with almost no means of communication with their families.

World War II veterans Eugenio Ramos of Bulacan and Felimon Villanueva of Quezon Province said Aquino’s praises were good to hear, but the government must increase their monthly pension.

“We are receiving only P6,700 a month, which is not enough,” they said.

Aquino said the government has started to purge the list of pensioners of fake World War II veterans.

“At the beginning of this year, we stopped the benefits of 22,534 accounts and suspended another 14,616,” he said in Filipino.

“We were able to return the pension remittance amounting to P396.61 million. So this March, 133,784 appear as legitimate veterans and surviving spouses.”

“We are making sure that every peso allotted from the nation’s coffers will only go to those who are qualified,” he said.

Last March, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) rendered medical services to 133,784 legitimate veterans and their relatives, he added.

The PVAO has given annually P36,000 in educational assistance to some 2,059 qualified dependents of veterans, he said.

Aquino said the national government has earmarked P36 billion in 36 projects from July 2010 to March 2014 as part of the Armed Forces Modernization and Capability Upgrade Program.

“It is not enough for courage to be the only weapon of our soldiers,” he said.

Aquino said the Veterans Memorial Medical Center had given P17 million worth of medical assistance to 1,094 veterans in 2013.

“We also shouldered coronary, angiogram and bypass procedures,” he said.

The PVAO has 2,059 student-scholars with qualified dependents receiving P36,000 every year, Aquino said.

Valuable lessons learned

Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe apologized to the Filipino people for the damage done in World War II and a wreath at the colonnade of the war memorial shrine below the huge mountain-top cross.

“Seventy-two years have passed,” he said. “Still, it hurts to remember the hardship and pain suffered by so many during those fateful days. I wish to express our heartfelt apologies and deep sense of remorse for such inexplicable suffering.

“Japan has learned valuable lessons from history. The use of force is not the ultimate solution. It only creates problems. That is why we have vowed never to wage war again.

“Fortunately, the Filipinos have accepted to move on. We have been building the future together ever since. Thanks to the efforts of our predecessors, we are now strategic partners, sharing common values. The exchange of visits and contacts between our leaders continue on a regular basis. Our soldiers were working shoulder-to-shoulder in the UN peacekeeping operations in the Golan Heights prior to the Syrian crisis.”

US Ambassador Philip Goldberg thanked the veterans for their courage and for building friendship between the Philippines and the US.

“We take time today to honor our war veterans who fought hard for democracy,” he said.

The few hundred surviving veterans, some of them on wheel chairs and accompanied by relatives, went up to Mount Samat.

A Bataan official estimated their number as smaller than last year’s.

Bataan Gov. Albert Raymond Garcia said yesterday the perennially flooded coastal barangay of Almacen in Hermosa town will receive construction assistance from Japan.

Garcia said he has signed an agreement with Japanese Ambassador Urabe to start the reconstruction of facilities in the low-lying barangay.

Bataan is now on the road to industrialization, he added.

Central Luzon police director Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta, Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command chief Lt. General Gregorio Catapang and Bataan police director Senior Superintendent Audie Atienza also attended the event.

‘Veterans have not yet received benefits’

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the benefits promised to World War II veterans under Republic Act 7696 have not been granted due to funding issues.

“A number of them have died without enjoying the benefits due to lack of government funding because it was not specified under the law,” he said.

Trillanes has filed Senate Bill 166 to identify the funding sources for the payment of arrears in the veterans’ pensions and other benefits.

In 2010, the government appropriated a total of P170 million and P2.9 billion in 2013 for the payment of the Total Administrative Disability pension of World War II veterans aged 80 and above, he said.

However, the appropriations were not able to cover all the veterans, and the amount was not enough to cover the total government obligation, he added.

Under the bill, Trillanes said the funding requirements would be sourced from the proceeds of the development, lease or other use of government properties.

“There are still many things that can be done to uplift the status of our veterans; a majority of whom are now elderly, sick, underprivileged, disabled and poor. They receive very small pensions, and little benefits and medical assistance,” he said. – With Raffy Viray, Delon Porcalla, Marvin Sy, Aurea Calica