JFAV UPDATES
June 28 2011
JFAV SEND KUDOS FOR DFA SECRETARY DEL ROSARIO
Los Angeles—The Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) based in the United States lauded the action of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario who has asked the US Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) to reconsider the cases of Filipino World War II (WWII) veterans who were denied benefits under a recently passed US law.
JFAV National Coordinator Arturo Garcia said he was elated with the action of SFA Secretary Del Rosario who was one of the staunchest supporters of Filipino veterans rights while he was the Philippine Ambassador to the United States.
The JFAV learned that Del Rosario made the appeal during a meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington, D.C. last week. More than 27,000 veterans and their widows were denied of their claims for the lump sum because their names did not appear on the so called “Missouri List”
Filipino Veterans Still Unrecognized
The JFAV is gratified that DFA Secretary Del Rosario urged the DVA to reconsider the cases of certain veterans denied benefits under the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund. [The fund] requires that the name of a veteran, to be eligible for benefits, appear in both the roster of troops prepared by the US Army after the war and the individual folders of veterans containing their discharge papers (AGO Form 23.
But despite this the JFAV said it’s a long shot that the DVA can remedy the big backlog of American veterans claims that numbers more than 600,000. The processing for 27,000 Filipino veterans are sure to be in the back-burner especially the government still refused to recognize them for the past 65 years. “ Garcia added.
The fund, approved in February 2009, authorized the release of a one-time lump-sum payment to eligible WWII veterans from the Philippines. The payments were to be made through the DVA from a $198 million (about P8.6 billion) appropriation.
For more information please call (213)241-0995 or email at
unrecognizedvets@yahoo.com 