Filipino veterans of World War II and their families received $214.4 million in VA benefits and services during 2011, according to a recent report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The benefits paid to veterans and survivors included $186.5 million in pension payments, a $15 million equity compensation payment, and more than $10 million in medical services. More than 18,500 veterans or their surviving family members were eligible to receive the VA benefits. VA plans to spend roughly $192 million on Filipino World War II veterans during 2012, according to the report.

Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos fought alongside U.S. armed forces during World War II, but a 1946 law signed by President Harry S. Truman stripped them of their VA benefits.

"There can be no question but that the Philippine veteran is entitled to benefits bearing a reasonable relation to those received by the America veteran, with whom he fought side by side," Truman wrote at the time. "From a practical point of view, however, it must be acknowledged that certain benefits granted by the GI bill of rights cannot be applied in the case of the Philippine veteran."

The U.S. government began making one-time lump sum payments to Filipino veterans after passing the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Program in 2009.

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