I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1875 

To extend the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund and to direct 

the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to accept certain documents as proof 

of service in determining the eligibility of a person to receive amounts 

from such Fund. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 16, 2015 

Mr. HECK of Nevada (for himself, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. BORDALLO, and Mr. 

VARGAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To extend the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund 

and to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to accept 

certain documents as proof of service in determining 

the eligibility of a person to receive amounts from such 

Fund. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Filipino Veterans Rec5 ognition Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF FILIPINO VETERANS EQUITY COM2 PENSATION FUND AND PROOF OF ELIGI3 BILITY. 

4 (a) EXTENDED APPLICATION PERIOD.—Subsection 

5 (c) of section 1002 of the American Recovery and Rein6 vestment Act of 2009 (division A of Public Law 111–5; 

7 38 U.S.C. 107 note) is amended by adding at the end the 

8 following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(3) EXTENDED APPLICATION PERIOD.—Not10 withstanding paragraph (1), and subject to the 

11 availability of amounts made available to the com12 pensation fund before the date of the enactment of 

13 this paragraph, the Secretary may make a payment 

14 from the compensation fund to an eligible person 

15 who, during the one-year period beginning on the 

16 date of the enactment of this paragraph, submits to 

17 the Secretary— 

18 ‘‘(A) a claim for benefits under this sec19 tion; or 

20 ‘‘(B) with respect to a person who filed a 

21 claim for benefits under this section during the 

22 period described in paragraph (1), a new claim 

23 or an appeal to such previously filed claim.’’. 

24 (b) PROOF.—Such section 1002 is further amended 

25 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

26 ‘‘(m) USE OF AGO FORM 23.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other 

2 documents that the Secretary accepts as proof of 

3 service described in subsection (d), the Secretary 

4 shall accept as proof of such service an affidavit 

5 from the government of the Philippines certifying 

6 such service of an eligible individual (AGO Form 

7 23). Such an affidavit shall serve as proof of such 

8 service regardless of whether the eligible indi9 vidual— 

10 ‘‘(A) submits any other document accepted 

11 by the Secretary to establish such proof; or 

12 ‘‘(B) is included in the Approved Revised 

13 Reconstructed Guerilla Roster of 1948, known 

14 as the ‘Missouri List’. 

15 ‘‘(2) PROOF OF SERVICE ONLY FOR THIS SEC16 TION.—The Secretary may not accept an affidavit 

17 described in paragraph (1) as proof of service for 

18 any benefit provided under a law administered by 

19 the Secretary other than the compensation fund 

20 under this section.’’. 

21 (c) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section or the 

22 amendments made by this section shall be construed as 

23 authorizing additional amounts to be appropriated to the 


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1 Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund established 

2 by such section 1002. 

Æ 


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