The New Charter of the Philippine Veterans Bank

R.A. 11597 provides that the state shall recognize its duty to execute viable plans that will promote the welfare of the Filipino war veterans and retired military personnel, including their surviving spouses, orphans and compulsory heirs.

The new charter of the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) now allows post-World War II veterans, and retirees of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and their spouses and heirs. to own shares in the Bank with an increased capitalization of at least Php10 Billion. It will allow the bank to increase its capitalization and include post-World War II veterans to be shareholders while maintaining priority for World War II veterans and their immediate heirs.

Republic Act No. 11597, which was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on December 10, 2021, took effect on January 21, 2022.

The new PVB charter increases the Bank’s capitalization from P100 million to P10 billion, which will allow the bank to issue additional stocks and increase the number of members in the Board of Directors from 11 to 15.

While the old PVB charter defined “veterans” as only those Filipinos who fought during World War II, the amended charter, will now also include post-World War II veterans and AFP retirees, and their spouses and heirs, as PVB stockholders..

The new charter also maintains PVB’s status as a government depository bank, allowing it to accept and keep deposits from national government agencies, local government units, and government corporations.

By extension, this allows PVB to continue offering its products and services such as loans and cash management services to government clients.

In keeping with the original intent of the bank’s founders, PVB would continue to allocate 20% of its annual net income for the benefit of Filipino veterans and their families through programs and endeavors that will be beneficial to the well-being of the bank’s shareholders.

PVB Chairman Roberto de, says  the new charter is an “enormous boon for the bank” as it would allow PVB to continue to be the “bank with the heart for every Filipino” while readying itself to transform into a bank for the military and the uniformed personnel.