MEDIA RELEASE

JUSTICE FOR THE FILIPINO AMERICAN VETERANS(JFAV)

Contact; Al P. Garcia

(213)413-4944

email: jfav_us@yahoo.com

March 23, 2009

Philippine-US Governments Created Huge Problems on Veterans claims

Los Angeles- The Philippine and United States government created a huge problem about Filipino World War II claims.

The JFAV is expecting a lot of applications to be filed until Feb 16, 2010. This is due to the fact that PVAO admitted that there are 40,000 still living veterans in the Philippines. There are around 6,000 veterans living in the United States.

In this connection, JFAV National Coordinator Arturo P. Garcia criticized both the Philippine and US governments “for giving false hopes to the poor, disabled and old veterans. What will they say to those veterans who will not be paid. That they were not veterans because they their papers are not in order? “

Garcia also said: “ Besides not giving widows any benefits the law is flawed because it only provided benefits for 18,000 veterans. “

Around 23,000 veterans had applied for claims under the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act since last month, she disclosed. The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) has processed 21,000 applicants in February.

Claims to be Decided on April

The Veterans Administration (VA) will start deciding on claims for compensation filed by Filipino World War II veterans by the end of April, according to US Ambassador Kristie Kenney.

Kenney said on Monday they would send out notices informing the claim applicants of acceptance or non-acceptance by the US government of their claims. The law presumably provided for the official recognition of services rendered by Filipino World War II veterans to the US government and the release of a lump-sum payment to eligible veterans.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs will pay around US 8 million to about 18,000 veterans who will each receive a one-time payment of ,000 for non-citizens and ,000 for US citizens.Kenney said they expected more applications to come in.

The JFAV is anticipating problems about the matter with a large number of applicants both in the Philippines and the United States. There are more than 46,000 veterans who are expected to apply for claims. The money allotted for the veterans is only for 18,000 veterans.

For more information please call Arturo Garcia at (213)413-4944 or email at jfav_us@yahoo.com or visit our blogspot at alliancephilippines.blogspot.com