PGMA RELEASES P300M TO DND FOR AFP RETIREES AND VETERANS

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has approved the immediate release to the Department of National Defense, through the Department of Budget and Management, a total of P300M to pay the pension differentials of 93,601 retirees of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and at least 10,173 pending claims for veterans burial and disability benefits at the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), it was announced by Defense Secretary Avelino J Cruz, Jr in Malacañang today.

Sec Cruz, Jr said that of the total amount the President ordered released, P159,062.196 will go to the AFP to pay the twenty percent increase in the pension and gratuities for AFP retirees for the period October to December 2002. The pension pays will be adjusted accordingly.

Pension differentials due to AFP retirees for January 2003 will be paid in June of 2006 next year and that arrears for February 2003 will be paid in June of 2007 or the year after that.

For the veterans the Defense chief said the President ordered a total of P141M to settle in full some 8,061 unpaid claims for burial assistance pending at PVAO since 2003. The P21M is for the payment of arrears for the years 2001 to 2003 to some 2,157 veterans in the disability pension list and P40M in educational benefits that will allow student wards to continue their schooling and graduate.

Cruz said that close to a dozen DND-initiated administrative and legislative proposals to improve veterans’ benefits are also in progress and have been submitted to President Arroyo.

Among them is the increase of hospitalization subsidy to P400.00/day from P200.00. The inclusion of veterans in the PhilHelath System and the option for a long-term lease of a portion of the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center to generate funds for a new veteran’s hospital and for the rent to augment subsidy to the veterans are also being urgently considered.

The Defense chief said he has directed the Armed Forces and the PVAO to prepare the requirements for the individual payments to the AFP retirees and PVAO veterans. “DBM Secretary Emilia Boncodin and I are working together to implement President Arroyo’s instructions without delay and to facilitate the remittance of funds to the beneficiaries by June of 2005,” Cruz added.

Secretary Cruz added that a more effective and efficient management of benefits for active and retired AFP personnel and the veterans are among the major reformed areas in the Philippine Defense Reform Program wherein a comprehensive program to address strategic and systemic defects in the DND and the AFP is underway.

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