Missing P42M War Veterans Pension Fund Still Unaccounted

NAGA CITY---After six years since it was first exposed in Congress, the missing P42M pension fund for the World War II veterans remains unaccounted for, according to an official of the national veterans’ federation.

Francisco T. San Miguel, secretary general of the Philippine Veterans Association, said the P42M pension fund represents veterans’returned pension checks which had been initially deposited at the Veterans Bank.

“But the PVAO (Philippine Veterans Affairs Office) withdrew the P42M from the Veterans Bank and deposited it in a bank (Centennial Bank) which was not a government depository. When we were already looking for the money, the government agencies concerned were telling us different things,” San Miguel told the Bicol Mail in the sideline of the annual general assembly of Veterans Federation in Bicol Saturday.

He said the Veterans Bank told them that it had already completed the report about the missing pension fund while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas told us that they went to the Centennial Bank and was told that the record had been lost.

The Centennial Bank owned by Celso de los Angeles had been closed by the BSP.

San Miguel said the Anti-Money Laundering Committee has already completed the report which was submitted to Congress.

“The problem is we were never provided the report and we still do not know where the P42M is. We do not even know how much really is the actual amount missing,” he said.

Emerlinda Asur Gazer, daughter of a veteran, revealed her father’s pension could add up to the missing pension fund since her father’s last pension check was returned to the Veterans Bank.

Gazer said her father Generoso Asur died four years ago a day before his monthly pension was delivered to their house.

She said a staff from PVAO who delivered the pension check of his father worth P5,600 took it back after it was learned that her father had died.

“We tried to explain that even though my father had died he was still living when the check was processed, so he was still qualified to receive it. But we were told it will be returned back,” Gazer said.

San Miguel said there are many veterans complaining that the government owes them much based on the authorized pension provided by law which is at least P5,000 per month.

“That’s our concern because the money is missing and then we would later learn it missing or deposited somewhere else,” he said.

San Miguel said there are about 100,000 World War II veterans in the country receiving government pension and only some 50,000 are members of the veterans’ federation.