$59-M have so far been paid to Filvets by US govt

CHICAGO – A total of $52.2-million have been paid so far by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to claims filed by Filipino World War II veterans as of Aug. 17. That’s six months after the implementation of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or the Public Law 111-5 signed last Feb. 17 by President Barack Obama. Jim Benson, media relations staff of the USDVA in Washington, D.C., issued the statement to allay fears that payments have not yet been released to the veterans. Benson did not specify the numbers of the recipients in the Philippines and Filipino Americans. Under the new law, Filipino veterans who are US citizens will get a lump sum pay of $15,000 each. Veterans who are not US citizens, mostly living in the Philippines, will each receive $9,000 one-time pay. A total of $198-M had been earmarked for the program. Benson further clarified that “the law does not state that Filipino veterans will receive payments within one year; it states that they have one year to file a claim." “In the event the veteran files a claim and then dies before payment is received, the surviving spouse will receive the payment. The claim must have been filed by the veteran before death and the payment can go to no survivor other than the spouse." Meanwhile, a son of a veteran, who had long died, had suggested that the US Congress should amend Public Law 111-5 that will extend the benefits to the children of the veteran if the spouse of the veteran had already died. Jerry M. Clarito, executive director of the Illinois Veterans Equity Center, said extending the benefits to children of veterans for Filipino World War II veterans can be pattered after the Montgomery G.I. Bill (the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, P.L. 78-346). The GI bill was an omnibus bill that provided college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs) as well as one year of unemployment compensation. It also provided many different types of loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businesses. Since the original act, the term has come to include other veteran benefit programs created to assist veterans of subsequent wars as well as peacetime service. - GMANews.TV