Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

16" CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

House BiLNo.__ 5028

Introduced by Honorable Herminia B. Roman

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Sec. 11 of Republic Act No. 6948, as amended by RA 7696, provides that ‘the
surviving spouse of a veteran as defined in Section 2(a) of this Act shall, regardless
of age, be paid a pension of Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) monthly until he/she
remarries or dies. This pension is separate and distinct from the death pension
granted under Section 12 of this Act.” This provision resulted to the ballooning of
arrears of payments of pension benefits due to the limited budget of the paying
agency. The total arrears for the payment of pension benefits to veterans and their
surviving spouses as of August 2014 amounted to P576.019M. The veterans’
pensioners, who are outnumbered by the spouse pensioners, have to compete for
the meager resources of the government.

‘As of August 2014, the surviving spouse of WWII veterans is 64,876 while the
surviving spouse of post WWII veterans is 55,204 for a total of 120,080. For 2015,
PVAO estimated that the total projected spouse pensioner is 121,065 while the total
projected veterans’ pensioner is 38,790. Moreover, some of these spouse
pensioners are in their productive years and have the capability to earn a living
contrary to the rationale of providing old age pension to veterans who are 65 years
or older,

The intention of this bill is to amend Section 11 of R.A No. 7696, by requiring that the
surviving spouse of the veteran under second marriages shall be married to the
veterans for at least 5 years in order to qualify for the pension of the surviving
spouse. The five-year marriage requirement is reasonable enough to declare a
surviving spouse qualified to receive the pension benefit.

The passage of this bill will arrest the problem of arrears, delayed payments of

pension and ballooning budgetary requirements, thereby reducing the problems that
confronts our veterans and their beneficiaries

Hiviinia 8 Mamas


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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Quezon City, Metro Manila

16" CONGRESS
Second Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 5028

Introduced by Honorable Herminia B. Roman

AN ACT
PRESCRIBING ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY FOR SURVIVING SPOUSE PENSION
THEREBY AMENDING SECTION 11 OF RA 6948, AS AMENDED BY RA 7696,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines
in Congress assembled

SEC. 1. Section 11 of RA 6848, as amended by RA 7696, is hereby further
amended to read as follows:

“Sec 11. Pension of Surviving Spouse. - The surviving spouse of a

veteran as defined in Section 2(a) of this Act shall, regardless of age, be paid

a pension of [One] FIVE thousand pesos (P5,000.00) monthly until [he/she]

THE SPOUSE remarries or dies:[, unless he/she is actually receiving a similar

pension for the same consideration from other government funds or from the

United States government]. PROVIDED THAT THE SURVIVING SPOUSE

FROM THE SECOND AND SUCCEEDING MARRIAGES SHALL HAVE

BEEN MARRIED TO THE VETERAN FOR AT LEAST FIVE (5) YEARS

UNLESS THE VETERAN WAS KILLED IN ACTION. This pension is

separate and distinct from the death pension granted under Section 12 of this

Act[:Provided, That in the succeeding years starting January, 1995, said One

thousand pesos (P1,000.00) monthly pension shall be increased annually by

not less than Five hundred pesos (P500.00) per month until total pension shall

be at least Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) per month].”

SEC. 2. The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office shall issue the necessary
implementing rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act.

SEC. 3. All existing laws or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its publication in
a national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved.