PVB’s cruel treatment of World War II veterans

We would like to bring to the attention of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) and President Aquino himself the barbarous treatment of veterans and pensioners  by the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). The bank, as the depository bank of PVAO’s pensioners, has an “agreement” to see/check every six months whether a pensioner is still alive.

But PVB’s  Juan Luna, Tondo branch does not honor the “six-month agreement.” Instead, it arbitrarily requires pensioners who are more than 75 years old to visit the bank every three months to prove they are still alive, otherwise their ATM cards will be deactivated. A number of pensioners almost die of “pagod”—fatigue, stress and anxiety—every time they go to the bank in order to comply with this cruel imposition by PVB’s Juan Luna branch.

We believe a mandatory visit every other six months as a way of checking whether a pensioner is alive or not is fair enough. The law does not require pensioners to undergo this “check-up” every three months.

Please investigate the Juan Luna branch of the PVB for this cruel treatment of old pensioners who need rest and peace of mind.

—LILIA MENDOZA, Padre Rada, Divisoria, Tondo, Manila