Revisiting veterans’ visa petitions and claims for compensation

Manong Eddie was carrying a very old picture of himself smiling with his comrades in the US Army. According to him, he was a member of the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines under the Armed Forces of the United States during World War II. He has in his possession all his records of discharge and his enlistment record from the Philippine Army. He, however, lacks the certification from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) and therefore was unjustly denied his equity compensation as a US veteran by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A federal budget of $198 million was allocated for the Veterans Equity Compensation passed in 2009. Two years after the enactment of this legislation granting $15,000 or $9,000 to qualified veterans, a total of $221 million has already been paid to more than 18,000 Filipino veterans.

Interesting to note is that, according to the data released by the Center for Minority Veterans, as of October 2011, there were 24,000 veterans who were denied their claims.

In addition to the $198 million that was allocated for the veterans equity compensation fund in 2009, a supplemental $67 million was added last year to this fund. This means that there is still a total of more or less $44 million to be disbursed to veterans who still have pending applications with the VEC.

Major Cause of Denial

The major cause for the denial of applications is the lack of status as a US veteran despite proof of military service with the US army. The criterion that is being used by the Veterans Affairs is the list of veterans kept by the National Personnel Record Center at St. Louis, Missouri. This is often referred to as the “Missouri list.”

According to decisions denying claims of veterans, the verification of  military service in the US Armed Forces is the sole jurisdiction of the NPRC and that status as a Philippine veteran does not automatically translate to status as an American veteran. Secondary evidence, including Philippine-generated documents, are not recognized.

Reliance solely on the NPRC is unjust. Even the VA admits that the Missouri List is inaccurate due to the fact that the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. Among  those destroyed records, were personnel files of veterans who were discharged from Nov. 1, 1912 to Jan. 1, 1960.

The lawsuit and the hearing

In San Francisco California, a lawsuit, De Fernandez et al. vs. United States Department of Veterans Affairs  (CV-10-2468) was filed in 2010 with the US Federal Court.  The plaintiffs in this case questioned the established criteria of the Veterans Affairs as being arbitrary and capricious. Relying solely on NPRC sets burdens for qualification that no Filipino veteran could reasonably be expected to overcome. The manner of determining eligibility violates the veterans’ due process rights.

A hearing on the De Fernandez case has been set on on Nov. 15, 2011 before Honorable Judge Saundra B. Armstrong. The VA has filed a Motion to Dismiss. If the plaintiffs prevail in this case and class certification is granted, those who were denied claims based on the Missouri list will be favorably impacted.

Every year during the month of November, America honors and recognizes the contributions of the war veterans. Each generation of war veterans from World War II to the current Afghanistan war are facing challenges with the VA as regards their claim to benefits. The economic crisis may have affected the budget of almost all federal agencies. This is translating into more denials of claims. But whatever it may be, the manner of adjudicating should be more compassionate to these heroes who fought hard to defend freedom and democracy.

(Tancinco may be reached at [email protected] or at 887 7177 or 721 1963)