Veterans Benefits Blog

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the stimulus bill, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which authorizes payment of $198 million compensation to eligible Filipino World War II veterans:  $15,000.00 each for U.S. citizens, $9,000.00 for non-U.S. citizens, both of which are one-time lump sum payments.  Entitlement and eventual receipt of any money will not change or affect other benefits an individual may be currently receiving.

Within the one-year period, from February 17, 2009, the date the President signed the ARRA, until February 16, 2010, eligible veterans must submit to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs a claim for benefits.  It is estimated that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is reaching out to about 12,000 Filipino WWII veterans living in the Philippines, and roughly 3,000 living in the United States.

Among the many provisions of the ARRA, additional benefits may be afforded to eligible Filipino World War II (WWII) veterans.  The ARRA formally recognizes the service of Filipino WWII veterans who served with the U.S. military in defending freedom as active military service in the U.S. Armed Forces.

If an eligible person who has filed a claim for benefits during the one-year time period dies before payment is made, the payment will be made instead to the surviving spouse, if any.  For the purposes of the ARRA, an eligible person is any person who served before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, while such forces were in the service of the Armed Forces of the United States.  In order to learn if a particular type of service may qualify someone eligible for purposes of the ARRA, please read the text of the ARRA (link provided at the end) or contact the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Manila Regional Office.

Payments that are made to an eligible person shall be treated for purposes of the internal revenue laws of the United States as damages for human suffering, and shall not be included in income or resources for purposes of determining eligibility.  In other words, the one-time payment will not affect existing benefits the veterans currently receive, including Social Security checks for U.S. based veterans, access to veterans hospitals, and service-connected disability pensions and other benefits.

Additional and more detailed information may be obtained from the Embassy of the United States in Manila, including eligibility requirements, instructions on how to apply, and required supporting documents for applications.  http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhs581.html.  The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Manila Regional Office will also be conducting extensive outreach, within and outside of Manila, to the many Filipino WW II veterans throughout the Philippines to ensure all those entitled receive the benefits they deserve as soon as possible.

The full text of the ARRA can be located at:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1enr.pdf

David J Lowenstein Veterans Benefits Claims Filipino, WWII Veterans

When you called to follow up on the claim you submitted, you were told that VA never received a claim from you and they have no record of your ever filing one. Or they asked you to submit medical records, and you just sent them those records a few months ago – but the folks at VA tell you that those records aren’t in your files.

Maybe they got shredded – or are just in a desk drawer somewhere. Last fall, we heard a lot about the claims information found in shredder bins at various Regional Offices. Yesterday (March 3, 2009), the House Committee on Veterans Affairs held a joint hearing of the Oversight and Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittees on “Document Tampering and Mishandling at the VBA.”

Belinda J. Finn, Assistant Inspector General for Auditing of the Office of Inspector General, described the results of the investigation into the shredding incidents. She also discussed the results of “mail amnesty” programs:
“VBA officials also said that some VAROs held “mail amnesty” periods to encourage employees to turn in unprocessed mail and other documents without penalty or repercussions. During an amnesty period in July 2007 at VARO Detroit, VARO employees turned in almost 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail including 700 claims and 2,700 medical records and/or pieces of medical information. The VARO determined that none of these claims or documents were in VBA information systems or associated claim files. VBA management told us of similar amnesties at other VAROs, such as an amnesty at VARO New York in December 2008 that recovered 717 documents from VARO employees.”

You can find all of the testimony at the House Committee on Veterans Affairs website,
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?newsid=340

What can you do now to try to fix the situation? VA has established special procedures for claims or documents submitted between April 14, 2007 and October 14, 2008. If you submit a duplicate, and tell them that you submitted it during these dates, it will be treated as submitted on the date you originally submitted it. Between November 17, 2008, and November 17, 2009, VA will accept claims asserting that they were actually submitted during the earlier period, and the effective date of the claim will be the date when you originally submitted the claim.

VA has set up a website for information about the shredding incident and the “special handling procedure” that it has established for claims and documents submitted between April 14, 2007, and October 14, 2008. You can find this information at

http://www.vba.va.gov/VBA/SpecialProcedures_qa.asp

Sandra W Wischow FAQs, Veterans Benefits Claims FAQs, Veterans Benefits Claims