New DND chief worked hard to ensure proper benefits for Filipino WW II veterans -- PVAO

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 3): New DND chief worked hard to ensure proper benefits for Filipino WW II veterans -- PVAO

Newly-appointed Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has worked hard to ensure that Filipino World War II veterans, who served in the US Army, get their much needed benefits.

“Coordinating closely with the RP-based Filipino veterans, Sec. Lorenzana worked for the unification of Filipino-American efforts in support of World War II Filipino Veteran Equity lobby in the US, which was greatly instrumental in the passage of the two Filipino veteran equity bills in both houses of the US Congress and the eventual passage of the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund," Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) administrator Ernesto G. Carolina said.

Lorenzana, a member of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1973 and a retired major general, served as Special Representative and Head of the Office of Veterans Affairs in Washington D.C.

Carolina added that many of the modern facilities enjoyed by veterans at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) came from the annual US Veterans Affairs (USVA) grant-in-aid, which the new DND chief was instrumental in obtaining.

Also, another development where Lorenzana has positively contributed is the approval of the US Immigration Parole System for Filipino World War II veterans, which would allow Filipino veterans who became US citizens to bring their family members to the US.

Due to Lorenzana’s efforts, PVAO succeeded in bringing home from the US National Archives of History the digitized copies of very valuable World War II records.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=900828