The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office is now free of ghosts, with deceased and non-existent pensioners removed from the government’s list of veterans.
Fernan Angeles of The Daily Tribune reports the Department of Budget and Management, PVAO, and Land Bank of the Philippines are coordinating to make sure P1.95 billion in pensions from October to December actually go to veterans. Aside from cleaning up the list of veterans, the government will release the money through Land Bank.
"By (shifting) to the ATM scheme, we can improve transparency and accountability in our pension releases. As much as we aim to assist our veterans, we want to accomplish this in a responsible manner so that every peso is well-accounted for," the report quotes Budget Secretary Florencio Abad as saying.
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