NO more ghost veterans or ghost pensioners.

Thus said President Benigno Aquino III as he extolled the bravery and courage of “nameless and unsung heroes, the nation’s veterans who fought for our democracy and freedom” at yesterday’s commemoration of the 69th Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor) at the Mt. Samat Shrine of Valor in Pilar, Bataan.

Aquino said the government has purged ghost pensioners, saving some P4 billion in the process.

He said that in February 2011, the government looked into alleged ghost pensioners, some names dating back to the Philippine-Spanish War.

The Department of National Defense continues to clean up the list of pensioners and is implementing a direct remittance pension processing system, he said.

Aquino told the veterans that they may “have lost some battles during those times,” but “their courage and love for country became instruments in winning a larger war—a war to awaken the Filipino heart, which allowed us to achieve independence.”

He told the war veterans who braved a drizzle to attend the Araw  ng Kagitingan rites they will get the benefits due them including membership in PhilHealth and hospitalization.

The audience of about 2,000 included national and local officials, members of the diplomatic corps, teachers, students and Boy and Girl Scouts.

Earlier in the ceremony, the President was given a 21-gun salute and full military honors by the four major commands of the military.

Aquino said the nation continues to show its gratitude to the veterans three generations after World War II, “by taking care of our veterans and their families.”

He bared his administration’s package of gratitude to the war veterans including the upgrading of the equipment and facilities of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center; P800 subsidy for every day in confinement of a veteran or member of his family; health insurance for qualified veterans; and speedier processing by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) of benefits.