CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – A local legislator here slammed the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) for being ‘unaware’ of the ordinance that specifically provides burial benefits to veterans.
Councilor Romeo Calizo, who is also a retired Army major general, said in his special report in the city council’s session on Monday, May 29 that 11 veterans died over the past three weeks, and their immediate families went to his office for assistance.
The families were instructed to proceed to the CSWDO here for the burial benefits, but the office's alleged typical responses were "There is no such ordinance like that" and "We don’t know about that."
The families who were seeking burial assistance asked for help from the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office Region 10, and they all went to CSWDO for the benefits ‘but to no avail.’
"They appear to be ignorant on the part of the management of this budget. They don’t know how to dispense this budget to favor the requests of the veterans… Ignorance of their responsibility, Madam Chair," stressed Calizo at the session.
Section 20 of Republic Act No. 6948, also known as "An Act Standardizing and Upgrading the Benefits for Military Veterans and their Dependents," says a deceased veteran shall be given P4,000 as burial assistance upon application thereof in due form, which shall be filed within two years from the death of the veteran concerned; unless the next of kin of a deceased veteran is entitled to a similar benefit from the United States government.
A veteran refers to any person who rendered military service in the land, sea, or air forces of the Philippines during the revolution against Spain, the Philippine-American War, and World War II, including Filipino citizens who served with the Allied Forces in Philippine territory; was a member of the Philippine Expeditionary Forces sent to the Korean War and the Philippine Civic Action Group sent to the Vietnam War.
This included those who rendered military service in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and have been honorably discharged or retired after at least 20 years of total cumulative active service or sooner separated while in active service in the AFP due to death or disability arising from a wound or injury received or sickness or disease incurred in line of duty. This is according to Republic Act No. 9396, or "An Act Redefining the term ‘Veteran,’ amending RA No. 6948.
In connection with this, this city passed City Ordinance No. 10257-2006—which was later amended in 2007 (City Ordinance No. 10597-2007)— an ordinance granting burial assistance to the veterans at the rate of P10,000, to which the CSWDO is mandated to allocate an annual budget for the said assistance.
In the amended ordinance, the veteran must have been registered with or have been a member of the Office of Veterans Affairs in this city, and the veteran must have been a resident of Cagayan de Oro.
In an interview with the Manila Bulletin on Tuesday, May 30, CSWDO head Anecia Tongson, as well as the other employees of the office, admitted that they were not aware of the ordinances and weren’t able to implement them as they didn’t have a copy of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).
The Manila Bulletin asked the Office of the City Council for a copy of the IRR, but it was not able to provide it.
However, CSWDO assistant head Nida Pana said she was told by her administrative officer that there were burial claims for veterans that had been processed in CSWDO in the previous administration, but the financial assistance had been released by the City Mayor’s Office.
Nevertheless, Tongson said her office "will study the ordinances, and they will coordinate with the Office of Senior Citizen Affairs to have further knowledge."
The city council also referred the special report by Calizo to the committee on social services for further investigation in aid of legislation.