Card reactivation done every 3 or 6 months

This refers to the letter of Lilia Mendoza of Padre Rada, Divisoria, Tondo, Manila. (Inquirer, 11/15/11) We wish to explain our side.

As a backgrounder, Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) is one of the accredited banks of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) to disburse the old-age pensions to Filipino veterans or their widows. Right now, our pensioners have two options to receive their monthly pension: first is cash delivery through courier; and the second via Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards. For the latter, for pensioners below 80 years old, the bank requires them to reactivate their ATM cards every six months to verify if they are still living. For pensioners 80 years old and above, the card has to be reactivated every three months.

While this may seem inconvenient to some, this feature will help ensure that government funds are properly disbursed to the right beneficiary. Our experience shows that many still try to fraudulently withdraw a veteran’s pension even if the veteran is already deceased. The three months’ requirement is still much better than the practice years ago when the aging veterans had to go to the bank every month to claim their old-age pension. Furthermore, we encourage our pensioners to try our hassle-free courier service.

We hope this clarifies matters. We encourage Mendoza to call our PVB-Gagalangin branch at 252-7222 or 252-7228 and look for Irene Torres, our branch manager, so we can further explain this matter to her and provide the best possible option to receive her PVAO pension.

—MIGUEL ANGELO C. VILLA-REAL, vice president, Corporate Communications and Social Affairs, Philippine Veterans Bank