Section 1
SEC. 1. Section four of Republic Act No. 3518 is amended to read as follows: “SEC. 4. Determination of Veterans entitled to benefit from this Act.— (a) The term “veteran or veterans” shall include any person or persons who served in the regularly constituted air, and or naval services or arms, or in such non-regularly organized military units in the Philippines during World War II and whose services with such units are duly recognized by the Republic of the Philippines or by the Government of the United States, those who serve in the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea during the Korean Campaign or in any armed conflict in which the Philippine may be involved in the future, and the retirees of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who served in the pass World War II military service for at least 10 years: Provided, That, the said veterans or retirees have been honorably discharge or separated from the service or continue in the active military service or are carried in the military poster on inactive reserve: Provided, further, That for purposes of this Act the term “veteran or veterans” shall also include the widows, orphans and compulsory heirs of deceased and veterans in the direct ascending line and direct descending line, excluding their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. (b) The term “organized or acknowledge veterans organizations” duly recognized or acknowledge as such by the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, and Armed Forces of the Philippines which shall keep officials rosters of such veterans organization; (c) On the basis of the acknowledged or duly established official records and data from the Treasury of the Philippines and any other record or admissible under the rules of evidence, such as records of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the said government entities shall determine immediately after the approval of this Act who and how many are the veterans of the Philippines as enumerated in paragraph (a) of this section, who are entitled to the benefits of this Act. The decision of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on the matter shall be final, unless appeal for review within fifteen days from notice thereof is made to the President of the Philippines or to the Supreme Court whose decision shall be final. The appeal shall be perfected in the same manner as in other proceedings and it may be prosecuted by the interested party or by the head of any acknowledged veterans organization; (d) The reckoning date for determining the status and number of such veterans, their widows, orphans or compulsory heirs shall be the date of approval of this Act. (e) The share of each beneficiary, war veteran or widow, orphan or compulsory heir of a deceased veteran, in the distribution of the benefits accruing to the Republic of the Philippines, shall be equal regardless of rank and services rendered; Provided, That in case of orphan or orphans of a deceased veteran, they shall be counted as one unit only and the share of all of them regardless of their number shall be the same or equal to that of a surviving war veteran or surviving widow; (f) Notice of the decision of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines on the question of who are entitled to participate in the benefits accruing to the Veterans Trust Fund shall immediately be served on the interested parties, either directly or thru the organization to which they belong in writing and by registered mail. In addition, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines shall publish for three consecutive weeks a notice in two newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines to the effect that the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines have already completed their work of determining the number and the identity of those entitled to participate in the trust fund and advising any party interested who has not received yet the notice of the decision served upon him that he may verify his inclusion or exclusion from the official register in the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. These offices shall keep complete lists and official register of those included and excluded from the enjoyment of the benefit, which lists shall be available for inspection during office hours. The official registry books shall constitute as irrevocable public record certified true copies of which may be released by the custodian of records for official purpose only."