Determination of veterans entitled to benefit from this Act.
Section 4
SEC. 4. Determination of veterans entitled to benefit from this Act.— The term "veteran or veterans" shall include any person or persons who served in the regularly constituted air, land, 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: Provided, That for the purposes of this Act, the term "veteran or veterans" also include the widow, orphan or a compulsory heir of a deceased veteran, as determined by existing laws; The term "organized or acknowledged veterans organizations" as used in this Act shall mean a veterans organization duly recognized or acknowledged as such by the Philippine Veterans Administration which shall keep an official roster of such veterans organization; On the basis of the acknowledged or duly established official records and data from the Treasury of the Philippines and any other record or evidence admissible under the rules of evidence, such as the records of the Philippine Veterans Administration and of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Veterans Administration shall determine immediately after the approval of this Act, who and how many are the veterans of the Philippines of World War II and their widows, orphans or compulsory heirs as determined by existing laws who are entitled to the benefits of this Act. The decision of the Philippine Veterans Administration 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 preceedings and it may be prosecuted by the interested party or by the head of any acknowledged veterans organization; The reckoning day for determining the status and number of such veterans, their widows, orphans or compulsory heirs shall be the date of approval of this Act; 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, will be equal regardless of rank and services rendered: Provided, That in the 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 will be the same or equal to that of a surviving war veteran or surviving widow; Notice of the decision of the Philippine Veterans Administration 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 Administration shall publish for three consecutive weeks a notice in two newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines to the effect that the Philippine Veterans Administration has already completed its work of determining the number and the identity of those entitled to participate in the trust fund and advising 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 Administration. This Office shall keep a complete list and official register of those included and excluded from the enjoyment of the benefit, which list shall be available for inspection during office hours. The official registry book shall constitute an irrevocable public record, certified true copies of which may be released by the custodian of records for official purpose only. BANKING OPERATION IN GENERAL