US Dept of Veterans Affairs to visit Cebu Thursday

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) in Manila announced that it will hold an outreach program in Cebu City on Thursday to receive applications from World War II veterans in the south who want to apply for the newest benefit being offered by the United States government. The 2009 Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 under the Obama administration awards US $15,000 or P688,000 to eligible Filipino World War II veterans with US citizenship and $9,000 or P413,000 to non-US citizen veterans. The benefits will be given as one-time lump-sum payments. The US Embassy emphasized that these benefits are all-new and "will not change or affect other benefits an individual may be currently receiving." The USDVA conducted similar outreach programs in Baguio City and Pampanga in November to make the benefit more widely known among veterans all over the country. It is scheduled to visit Davao del Sur on February 11. As of January 1 this year, the USDVA has received 39,591 claims, of which 5,616 were granted the $9,000-benefit; while 5,729 received the $15,000-benefit. - Nikka Corsino/RSJ, GMANews.TV