SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill granting additional funding of $67 million for the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund that pays for the lump sum claims of Pinoy veterans.
The law awards eligible U.S.-citizen Filipino World War II veterans a one-time payment of $15,000. Filipino veterans who are not U.S. citizens get $9,000.
San Diego Congressman Bob Filner (D-California), chairperson of the Veterans Affairs Committee confirmed this in a letter sent to the advocacy group Justice for Filipino-American Veterans (JFAV).
Filner said in his July 9 letter that the bill providing additional funding has been sent to the Senate for action.
He added the Senate action is mainly procedural and a “matter of formality” and is expected to be approved promptly.
“We welcome this good news,” said Art Garcia, JFAV national coordinator. “This is another lifeline for our Filipino veterans, and we certainly appreciate this.”
Garcia added that the immediate release of the additional funding will benefit veterans who have not received their lump-sump payment.
According to Garcia, there is only $10 million left in the lump sum fund. Recent government data show that 8,000 claims are still being processed while 16,000 claims have been denied.
Garcia thinks they may have been denied because the government was running out of money. He said the Department of Veterans Affairs kept insisting that there were only 18,000 surviving Filipino veterans, but 46,000 veterans filed their claims.
Garcia expressed hope that with more money now available, the appeal of veterans whose claims were denied could still be approved.
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