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Here's a disturbing report. It seems the Filipino Veterans who waited decades to receive the benefits initially promised by the U.S. government in 1946 are still waiting. Due to staff shortage at the Veterans Administration, hundreds of these brave veterans are still waiting for the payments that were included when the Filipino Veterans Equity bill was included as part of the recent stimulus package.
Members of the WWII Filipino-American Veterans-Hawaii Chapter are calling for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs to accelerate the process, saying months has passed after they were expected to receive their checks.
"We are losing hope," said President Art Caleda.
About 550 veterans in Hawaii had filed claims as of June. Of that figure, 15 veterans who suffered wounds in battle have received their payment, but the remaining are still waiting.
According to Caleda, a representative from the VA told them checks were to arrive in June. When the checks did not arrive, veterans were told it would take another six to nine months.
As many of these veterans are in their 80's and 90's, it's essential that these claims be processed quicker. According to the same article:
About 30 veterans in Hawaii have died since February. "The long process is ridiculous," said Caleda. "The veterans cannot wait."
I am not sure how much of an over-stretched military contributes to this, but it would be great to see these veterans receive their dues.
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reposted after seeing this on your fb status, that is disturbing and sad.
A shortage of VA staff to process claims, determine their validity and issue checks is a problem accross the board, not just in this most egregious case. The backlog of claims in all categories was stated to be closing in one One million [1,000,000] in the last VA benefit briefing book. Obviously, a major hiring and training effort would be required to put a dent in that number.
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