Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella gives the cheque of P100,000 to war veteran Arturo Garcia Dela Casa from Barangay Guadalupe on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. | Cebu City PIO photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Cebuano war veteran who turned 100 years old this month received P100,000 pesos from the Cebu City government.
Arturo Garcia Dela Casa from Barangay Guadalupe served as a 1st Sergeant for the USAFFE or United States Armed Forces of the Far East in the Second World War in 1941 and was also deployed to South Korea during the Korean War in 1950.
“I am proud to have served our country the Philippines, and proud to stand and honor this country,” said Dela Casa.
Mayor Edgardo Labella personally presented the cheque to Dela Casa on Tuesday, September 29, 2020. Labella thanked the veteran for his service to the country.
Dela Casa said his secret to long life is praying to God, avoiding vices, eating healthy, and excercising regularly.
The city government provides cash aid to centenarians as a tribute to living a long life in the city. Centenarians also receive aid from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The war veteran also lived through a total of five pandemics.
He was born in the last year of the Spanish Flu in 1920. He witnessed the Asian flu pandemic in 1957, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic in 1981, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, and now the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2020.
/bmjo