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| Filipino WWII veterans saga | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 20 2005, 12:29 PM (810 Views) | |
| boloy | Jul 20 2005, 12:29 PM Post #1 |
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Trainee
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World War II vets still fighting BIG DEAL By Dan Mariano / Manila Times / July 20, 2005 WORLD War II came to an end 60 years ago. Since then, the governments of the combatant nations have demonstrated their nations’ undying gratitude to their veterans—and not just with medals, monuments and annual commemorations of their sacrifice. WWII veterans were, moreover, granted numerous benefits designed to help them make their way back to the societies they fought to defend—and eventually tide them and their families over the difficulties of old age, ill health and death. From 1941 to 1945 numerous engagements were fought in the Philippines—the only country in Asia, aside from China, that sided with the antifascist cause of the Allies. The gallantry of thousands of Filipino soldiers and guerrillas drew the respect of friend and foe alike. But six decades after they answered their country’s call to arms, Filipino WWII veterans are still locked in an epic struggle—this time against some of their own compatriots who have turned into a milking cow an institution that was founded to serve the old soldiers and their survivors. That institution is the Philippine Veterans Bank. Set up in 1956 with $20 million in Japanese reparations, PVB has been looted by bank officials, said surviving veterans who discovered that the most rapacious of these plunderers were their former comrades in arms or their alleged heirs. The PVB was driven to bankruptcy in 1985 cronies of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a World War II veteran, ran away with its money. The bank managed to reopen in 1992, but according to retired colonel Rafael R. Estrada, national commander of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Inc., the plunder has continued, thanks to the utter lack of transparency in the policies and operations of the bank and its affiliates. As reported by Luz Rimban of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism the veterans have placed the bulk of the blame for the irregularities on PVB director Romeo Roxas. In a two-part special report that first saw print on April 11 in The Manila Times, PCIJ’s Rimban described Roxas as “a lawyer and businessman who was recently in the news when a company he owned was accused of illegal logging in Quezon and Aurora provinces,” which had been devastated by flash floods and landslides. The bank’s charter stipulates that only veterans or their heirs may own shares of stock. Several veterans said that PVB director Roxas is not the son of a veteran at all—a charge that he has denied. Nonetheless, Roxas has managed to buy 8.28 percent of PVB’s common shares, making him the bank’s sole major stockholder. Aside from the veterans’ original trust fund, PVB also handles deposits of government agencies like the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. In addition, it is a trustee for P2 billion belonging to the controversial College Assurance Plan, Inc. (CAP). In short, it’s awash with cash. Whether or not these funds are being used in the veterans’ best interest is an issue the veterans themselves have raised again and again. “Roxas’ position in the bank has also enabled him to secure loans for his own companies as well as for other companies, veterans say,” Rimban reported. At least one of these transactions involving P550 million seemed irregular, but was nonetheless approved—thanks to Roxas’ help. PVB granted the loan to Metro Alliance Holdings and Equity Inc., whose majority owner is William Gatchalian. “Documents show that Metro Alliance failed to submit all the requirements needed to process its loan,” Rimban wrote. At about the same time, another Gatchalian-owned company, Willex Plastics, had an unpaid loan from the PVB of P28 million. “A small ordinary borrower with such a poor credit performance would have been immediately turned down,” Rimban noted. How was Gatchalian’s connection to Roxas established? “Listed as collateral in Gatchalian’s loan application is a real estate property in ‘Laurel, Cavite’ belonging to Roxas’ Green Square and Green Circle Properties,” Rimban discovered. “The loan remains unpaid to this day, a full year after it first fell due.” Rimban cited a 1998 report of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which found that Roxas’ Green Square Properties and Green Circle Property and Resources had outstanding loans with PVB of P6.86 million. The central bank examiners said this “exceeded the ceiling for an individual loan to DOSRI [directors, officers, stockholders and related interests].” Roxas and PVB chair Emmanuel de Ocampo, a former guerrilla colonel, are also stockholders of Green Dreams Holdings, “which was granted a P35-million loan although the veterans say the value of its collateral was ‘bloated,’” the PCIJ reported. As bank chair, de Ocampo gets P650,000 monthly. According to veterans, led by Frank Cedula and Charlie Veloso, de Ocampo hired Roxas sometime in 1990 as legal counsel for the bank. Since then, the veterans said, the lawyer has claimed P43 million in legal fees. Those figures are in stark contrast to an ordinary veteran’s monthly pension of P5,000. Veterans have accused Roxas and de Ocampo of other questionable dealings, but there isn’t enough space in this column to accommodate them all. Suffice it to say that the veterans’ list of complaints is a long one. According to Cedula and Veloso, the 40,000 veterans and their survivors have been kept in the dark by the PVB management on the bank’s financial status and operations. As most of the old soldiers are now well into their 80s, destitute and in ill health, it is just a matter of time before the voices questioning the anomalies in PVB and its affiliates are silenced forever. Strangely, the authorities have done virtually nothing in response to the veterans’ charges. Is this how the nation shows its appreciation to that brave generation that put everything on the line in defense of the country 60 years ago? --------------------- WHY?!  |
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| saver111 | May 20 2006, 03:30 PM Post #2 |
PDFF Moderator
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US Senate grants benefits to RP veterans’ children By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA CHICAGO, Illinois – The US Senate on Thursday unanimously accepted an amendment offered by Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) to grant the children of Filipino World War II veterans special immigrant status for purposes of family reunification. In introducing Senate Amendment 4029, co-sponsored by Senators Dan Inouye, Maria Cantwell (DWA), and Patty Murray (DWA), Senator Akaka, America’s first senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry and the only Chinese American member of the US Senate, said: "I have listened to the stories of countless Filipino World War II veterans who have been separated from their families and who are patiently waiting in line." "Every veteran has a unique story to tell, but those Filipino World War II veterans who have not yet been reunited with their family members share a universal bond of heartache." The senior senator, who is a key member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management, added: "Let us prove those wrong who say that we are waiting until enough veterans die before we right this injustice. These veterans have been waiting for 60 years to have their benefits reinstated. Unfortunately, our efforts to provide them with the benefits they were promised, the benefits they fought for, have been unsuccessful because opponents have cited the payment of such benefits as too costly." Following Senator Akaka’s speech, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) said "the Senator from Hawaii deserves great credit for bringing this to our attention in the Senate. This will help provide some very important family reunification. It’s entirely warranted and justified. Thank you again for your continued advocacy on this issue. We’ll do everything we can to make sure this is carried to the conference as well." The amendment is now a part of S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, and will be a part of the package that Senate Conferees take to the House in attempting to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill. After Senate and House Conferees decide on what should be contained in the conference report, both bodies will vote and send the bill to the President. Democratic Representative Ed Case of Hawaii has introduced a counterpart similar bill, H.R. 901, in the House of Representatives. Senator Akaka said he is pleased with the support he has received from his colleagues and various organizations, including the Japanese American Citizens’s League, Asian American Justice Center, and American Coalition for Filipino Veterans. "It is time that the United States fulfills its responsibility to these veterans. The least we could do is help to unite these aging veterans with their families," Senator Akaka added. The generation of WW II Filipino Veterans is predominantly in their 80s. Prospective family-sponsored immigrants from the Philippines have the most substantial waiting times in the world before a visa is scheduled to become available to them. Due to the high demand in the Philippines for immigrant visas to the U.S., the State Department is currently issuing visas for first preference familysponsored immigrant visas whose priority date is September 1981. The average wait for Filipinos to obtain a visa is 20 years. Eric Lachica, Executive Director of American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, Inc., urged Filipinos to thank the senators and congressmen who sponsored the amendment that will "grant special immigrant status to children of Filipino WW II veterans for the purpose of family reunification." http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006052064524.html a flicker of light... |
 Justice for Daniel Lorenz Jacinto HELP END PIRACY NOW!: http://www.itfseafarers.org/petition.cfm | |
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| saver111 | May 23 2006, 02:18 PM Post #3 |
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PDFF Moderator
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Now what... Personal data on millions of US veterans stolen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Personal information on 26.5 million US veterans was stolen from an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who took the data home without authorization, exposing them to possible identity theft, the department said on Monday. The computer records included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the military veterans and some spouses, the department said. The electronic data related to everyone discharged from the military since 1975, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said. Lawmakers and veterans' advocates expressed alarm that the government failed to safeguard the data, which could be used in credit card fraud and other crimes. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that ''we have no reason to believe at this time'' that the data has been exploited for identity theft. ''We are going to send out an individual notification letter to every veteran to the extent possible,'' warning them of the risk of identity theft, Nicholson told reporters by telephone. Nicholson said the employee, a career data analyst and not a political appointee or senior official, has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The department said the theft of equipment containing the records from the employee's home took place this month. Nicholson declined to identify the employee, the location of the burglary or how long the person had the data at his home. The FBI said the theft occurred in the Maryland area and its Baltimore field office has been looking into the matter since it was referred to the agency last week. ''They believe that this was a random burglary and not targeted at this data,'' Nicholson said, adding that there had been a series of burglaries in that community. ''It's highly probable that they do not know what they have,'' he said. Nicholson advised veterans to monitor their credit card and banking transactions and be alert for anything suspicious. http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN2006052364817.html
They got to dig deeper on this. Lots or real veterans loosing their benefits because of frauds. Many assuming their identities. I knew of a veteran who died without getting any since his name was not listed even though he has some documents with known personalities acknowledging him as one of their comrade in arms. |
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Justice for Daniel Lorenz Jacinto HELP END PIRACY NOW!: http://www.itfseafarers.org/petition.cfm | |
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| Numbers | Nov 26 2011, 11:14 AM Post #4 |
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PDFF Moderator
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Filipino veterans seek US Army help for wartime records WASHINGTON DC - Thousands of Filipino World War II veterans are hanging by a piece of paper that could spell the difference whether they receive compensation for a 6-decade-old injustice. Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition of Filipino Veterans (ACFV), said the problem of more than 4,000 veterans whose applications for the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) fund were rejected is no longer within the purview of the Department of Veterans Administration (VA) to resolve. In a chance meeting with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta during a Veterans Day breakfast event at the White House, Lachica said they sought his help to help arrange a meeting with Secretary of the Army John McHugh. He said Panetta was aware of the Filipino veterans “especially the Philippine Scouts, there’s so many of them in California” but did not know about the plight of those left out of FVEC benefits. “He said he’ll look into it,” Lachica told ABS-CBN News. Read more |
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