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July 9, 2010
VIGAN CITY —The country’s surviving World War II veterans who have reached the age of 80 and above will again receive another partial payment of their long overdue “Total Administrative
Disability” (TAD) pension, according to the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) here. As a mater of fact, the national government through PVAO released last Tuesday another partial payment of TAD pension for two years covering the period 2004 and 2005. The partial TAD pension has been credited to the accounts
of living World War II veterans with an age of 80 years old and above.
PVAO Region 1 Officer Maria Juanita F. Rivera dis-closed on Wednesday that an amount of P40,800 was deposited to the bank accounts of the qualified WW II veterans representing their TAD back pay with an amount of P1,700 per month for another two years covering the period 2004-2005. It was noted that those surviving WW II veterans who were already receiving their disability benefits immediately after the war are no longer receiving the amount, as their P1,700 per month additional TAD benefits has been automatically added to their disability pension since the law was approved and implemented.
Rivera clarified that pursuant to Republic Act No. 7696 of 1994, the TAD pension is paid only to the living
veterans while surviving spouses of deceased veterans are not entitled to the said benefit.
“Due to budget constraint, living World War II veterans are given priority. The TAD pension of postwar
veterans like the AFP retirees shall be paid next by PVAO as soon as fund is allocated thereto from the national budget,” she said. Last April 2010, an estimated lump sum of TAD pension amounting to P81, 600.00
was released by the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to each qualified surviving WW
II covering a period of four years from January 2006 to December 2009.
“The earlier TAD payment was made possible by the allotment of P170 million under Republic Act No. 9970,
otherwise known as the General Appropriations Act of 2010 through the joint efforts by the Congress’ Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Welfare and Committee on Appropriations; and the executive branch,” Rivera said. It was also learned that among the benefits provided under Republic Act No. 7696 of 1994, only the TAD pension was left without appropriations from the national budget. Pursuant to the said act, veterans are deemed totally disabled upon reaching the age of 70 and are therefore entitled to an additional monthly pension of P1,700.