Taking the cue from US President Barack Obama, the Philippine government has finally agreed to pay thousands of Filipino war veterans cash disability benefits that have been denied them for 15 long years.

Zambales Rep. Antonio Diaz, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Friday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the Department of Budget and Management to start paying the country’s ageing veterans their Total Administrative Disability Pension (TADP).

Diaz said TADP benefits have accumulated to over P24 billion because government failed to shell out a single centavo to the beneficiaries since Republic Act 7696, the law authorizing the distribution of mandatory disability pay, was signed by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1994.

“This is one of the more important legacies President Arroyo can leave our World War II heroes. We expect government to release at least P3 billion this year,” Diaz said.

He revealed that veterans who are at least 80 years old and those who are sickly will get paid ahead of the others.

Addressing an assembly of WW II veterans at Camp Aguinaldo last Thursday, Mrs. Arroyo announced that she has ordered Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya to start paying the TADP this year.

Arroyo’s order came six months after President Obama signed last February the $787 billion economic stimulus package that provided a $198 million allocation to Filipino World War II veterans who fought side-by-side with Americans in the latter’s war against Japan.

But unlike the TADP, the US benefit package excluded widows and families of Filipino WWII soldiers who have been denied the compensation that American government promised in exchange for fighting the Japanese Imperial Army.

Under the Obama economic stimulus package, Filipino war veterans living in the US will be entitled to cash benefits amounting to $15,000 while those living somewhere else will receive $9,000.

The TADP entitles a veterans 70 years old and above to receive a P1,700 monthly pension, regardless of whether or not he or she suffers from a service-connected disability.

The veteran’s spouse and unmarried minor children are each entitled to P500 cash monthly.

Through the initiative of Diaz and Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, a P3 billion budget was earmarked in the General Appropriations Act of 2008 for the TADP. The allocation was placed under the unprogrammed fund of the Department of National Defense budget.

In a letter to Arroyo last May, Diaz proposed the inclusion of the unpaid TADP in the P330 billion Economic Resiliency Plan as he pointed out that release of funds to veterans “could easily and quickly be translated into higher consumer spending.”

“In the process, this will help support the economy at this time that global demand has continued to weaken. I believe P3 billion is a small price to pay relative to the P1.4 trillion budget in favor of our dwindling veterans,” said Diaz.