AN OFFICIAL from the Veterans Affairs Office said that the cash assistance for the children of veterans has increased to P30,000 per semester from the previous P20,000.
Remedios A. Josol, head of the Veterans Affairs Office, said during the Kapihan sa PIA on Friday, April 5, 2024, at the NCCC Victoria Plaza that in 2024, the benefits for the children of veterans have increased so they will now be receiving P60,000 per year.
“Last year the per semester cash assistance for the students was P20,000, but for this year, this school year naging [it became] P30,000 po per semester so for one-year meron silang [they will receive] P60,000 from our office,” she said.
Josol revealed that many children of veterans were not able to use the educational benefits, adding that the grandchildren could use them instead.
The Veterans Affairs Office will be having a week-long celebration of “Araw ng Kagitingan” with the theme “Pagpaparangal sa Kagitingan ng mga Beterano: Saligan para sa Nagkakaisang Pilipino.” The celebration started on April 5 and ends on April 11. The event seeks to immortalize the veterans’ love of the country, especially to the younger generation.
Josol shared that the four remaining World War 2 veterans will not be in attendance and there will be no awarding for this year. She said that they would limit the number of post-war veterans that will attend to 10.
Through Proclamation No. 466, Series 1989, it designated April 5 to 11 of every year as the Philippine Veterans Week, to “promote, preserve and memorialize the principles, ideals and deeds of the Filipino war veteran as a means to enhance patriotism and love of country, especially among the youth of the land.”
Meanwhile, Roberto Z. Zozobrado, general manager of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA), expressed that with the presence of their Davao branch, they hope to attract foreign retirees to the area. He said that they started to go digital so the services provided by the office will be fast and easy.
“We will try to make the retirees stay here in the Philippines as pleasurable as possible but for the Davao satellite office we plan to expand in Zamboanga and Cagayan de Oro,” he said.
He said the three branches would be enough to handle all the foreign retirees staying in Mindanao.
As of 2024, PRA is handling around 77,000 retirees; of that number, 2,000 are in Mindanao. RGP