Galvez meets Veterans Federation of the Philippines, inspects hospital
Department of National Defense (DND) Officer-in-Charge Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. met with the management team and members of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP) during their courtesy call and testimonial luncheon, at the AFP Commissioned Officers Clubhouse in Camp Aguinaldo on Friday.
“I am truly honored to be in the company of heroes. I thank the Veterans Federation of the Philippines for the singular honor of receiving your courtesy call and organizational briefing, as well as the opportunity of enjoying this testimonial luncheon in honor of our heroes,” Galvez said during his keynote speech.
Galvez commended the accomplishments of the VFP under the leadership of its president, Cesar Pobre.
“I thank the current leadership of VFP, Hon Cesar P. Pobre for having institutionalized reforms to improve professionalism, credibility, reliability, transparency and accountability.”
Prior to the testimonial luncheon, Galvez met with the VFP management team.
The VFP briefed Galvez on its Organizational Structure and Staffing Pattern, corporate governance, assistance to integrated member veterans, and Strategic Plan 2030, as well as currents of the VFP.
“The Veterans Federation of the Philippines managed to formulate its first ever Strategic Plan and Corporate Governance Manual, which then Senior Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr., approved for immediate implementation as well as the Organizational Structure and Staffing Pattern, which the current OIC, DND approved and endorsed to the Governance Commission for GOCCs,” VFP Executive Vice President Maj. Gen Romeo Alamillo (Ret) said.
“We have increased the number of individual member veterans from 70,000 to about 80,000 today. Our membership comprises only about 32% of the total number of veterans. We are seeking the assistance of other agencies, especially the Armed Forces of the Philippines Pension and Gratuity Management Center to assist us in the generation of a master list of AFP pensioners so we can track all of them and recruit them to join the federation,” Alamillo added.
In his message during the testimonial luncheon, Galvez cited the observance of the annual Philippine Veterans Week and commemoration of the 81st Araw ng Kagitingan this April.
“To me, there is no better way to celebrate Veterans Week than this fellowship where we are one in our desire to enhance our Veterans welfare, and promote love for our country,” he said. “It is my fervent hope that the VFP will conform with the high standards of corporate governance so that by 2030, it will attain its objective as an excellent federation of god-believing, patriotic, unified, and satisfied Filipino Veterans committed to mutual helpfulness and contributing to national development.”
On March 18, Galvez conducted a visit and inspection of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City, where he was given a tour of the hospital's facilities and met with the VMMC's staff and personnel led by acting administrator, Frank Galli., who briefed the OIC, DND on the status of the VMMC.
Galvez reiterated the importance of providing top quality medical care for our veterans. "It is our duty to ensure that our veterans' health and needs are looked after. We owe them so much for the sacrifices they made in service to our people and nation. This is the very least we can do for them, thus, we should make sure that they are happy with our services in the VMMC," Galvez said. DND
