An award for US senator

February 8, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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gmastevens.jpgPresident Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presents to US Senator Theodore Stevens (right), the Order of the Golden Heart with the rank of Grand Cross, during a call on her Thursday (Jan. 17) at Malacanangs Music Room. Also in photo is US Senator Daniel Inouye.

2 US senators vow to push for vets bills okay

MANILA President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo revently thanked two visiting senators for what you have done for the Filipino people.

The president expressed her thanks to Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Theodore (Ted) Stevens (R-Alaska) U.S. senators who paid a courtesy call on her at Malacanang Jan. 17. They are in the Philippines to visit US-funded projects in Mindanao.

During the call, the president also conferred the Order of the Golden Heart with the Rank of Grand Cross on Senator Stevens for rendering distinguished services and assistance for the amelioration and improvement of the moral, social, and economic conditions of the Filipino people.”

The two veteran bipartisan senators have assured the president they would push for the early passage of Filipino Veterans Equity Bill which has been stalled in the Senate due to the objection of Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Thank you for what you have done for the Filipino people, the President said.
Among those present were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, Foreign Affairs Acting Secretary Francisco Benedicto, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Hermogenes Esperon, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, and US Deputy Chief of Mission Paul Jones Inouye, himself a WWII veteran, sponsored the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill to acknowledge the significant contributions of Filipino veterans who helped ensured the victory of US forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Stevens, a senior member of Alaskas congressional delegation and the longest-serving senator in the history of the Republican Party, is the chief Republican supporter of the Equity Bill in the US Senate.
As co-chairman of the Senate Defense Committee, Stevens has been instrumental in increasing financial aid to the Philippines.

They just informed the President on the Veterans Equity Bill and its status on the US Congress especially in the Senate. And Senator Stevens and Senator Inouye who are both senior senators in the Committee of Defense in the United States promised to help push for the approval of that bill into a law so that the Filipino veterans will benefit from that Equity Bill,” Ermita said.

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - Former President Fidel V. Ramos said time is now running out fast for Filipino war veterans of World War II who fought side by side with the Americans from 1941 to 1945 because of the long delayed passage of the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill in the United States Congress.
Ramos was the keynote speaker during a commemorative program for the 63rd Anniversary of the Lingayen Gulf Landing of the Liberation Forces under General Douglas Mac Arthur on January 9, 1945 in all the beaches of Pangasinan.

Some 200 war veterans of World War II, many of them witnessed the landing, assembled at the War Memorial Park at the back of the provincial capitol early Wednesday to recall once again that fateful landing that started the liberation of Luzon from the Japanese invaders.

The Americans were represented on the occasion by Major Brent Hepner of the Joint United States Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG) and Alma Quintans Kern, national chairman of the Federation of Filipino-American Associations.

Ramos joined Gov. Amado Espino Jr. in unveiling a World War II Memorial Marker and in the laying of wreath as the taps was played in honor of courageous Filipino and American soldiers who died in the epic battles that occurred during and after the landing.

Ramos revealed that for the last 10 years, he has been seeking the help of the U.S. government to adopt measures that can further benefit the few remaining World War II veterans.

Ramos personally sent a letter to President George W. Bush recently urging him to work out the passage of the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill pending for already six decades in the U.S. Congress, pointing out to him that time is now running out for the aging and sickly veterans who took up arms in the service of the US Armed Forces when they were called to duty by then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in August 1941.

The former president revealed the continuing hardships and struggles of the Filipino veterans of World War II to overcome the injustice and inequity suffered by them and their families because of the onerous U.S. Recession Act of 1946 that denied them benefits and recognition.


Posted by News Team | Filed Under Articles/Stories 

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