Victory or defeat for RP vets this month

WASHINGTON D.C. – Will 62 years of fighting for justice go down in defeat or end in triumph for the few remaining aging Filipino veterans of World War II?
The House of Representatives is now ready to tackle S 1315, the Filipino Veterans Equity bill which was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate several months ago with a 96-1 vote. All it needs now is the approval of the House and the signature of President George W. Bush for it to become law. Bush had promised to sign it if it reaches his desk.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was initially reluctant to bring the bill to the floor until she is sure it will get the approval of both Democratic and Republican congressmen on an election year. But mounting pressure led her to bring it to the floor for a make-or-break vote.
For oppositors of the bill, the main contention is the funding for the pension for veterans in the Philippines. The Senate bill seeks the repeal of a previous law giving American veterans additional unintended benefits under the so-called Hartness court decision.
The Republicans, led by Rep. Steve Buyer of Indiana, have announced that it would fight the repeal because it would take away benefits from American veterans and pass it on to Filipino veterans in the Philippines. The implication is that the House must seek a new way of funding the bill. This will mean the death of the measure.
Buyer also questioned the Democrats’ claim that there is a need to honor America’s commitment to provide full benefit to Filipinos who were conscripted to fight with the Americans in defense of the Philippines, which was then a US commonwealth like Puerto Rico..He said there is no written record that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Gen. Douglas MacArthur or other top US officials had made such a commitment.
This argument was slammed by Rep. Bob Filner, chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, who quoted President Harry Truman as saying while signing the Rescission Act that “We must repair this important travesty. We promised those veterans full benefits. We have taken them away. We have to go and give them back.”
After the Japanese overrun Bataan and Corregidor, he said, the surviving soldiers were able to harass the Japanese through guerrilla work. “In fact, it was the Filipinos, bravely alongside their American counterparts, who helped win the war in the Pacific,” Filner said.
Filner said that “after the war was over, after we had won in both the Atlantic and Pacific, the Philippines were granted their independence, and the Congress of 1946 said, You got your independence. You take care of your veterans. Yes, you saved America, but that is your problem, not ours anymore.”
He stressed that when President Truman signed the rescission act that deprived the Filipino veterans of benefits, he said, ‘We must repair this important travesty. We promised those veterans full benefits. We have taken them away. We have to go and give them back.’
Filner said “that travesty still burns the hearts of the Filipinos who are alive and their family members.”
He said providing pensions for Filipino veterans is a “moral necessity for America to close the chapter of World War II. This is a moral necessity for this Congress to make up for a mistake that was made 62 years ago.”
Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA) backed up Filner and urged his colleagues to pass the Senate-approved bill. “These brave men fought alongside American soldiers under our flag throughout the Pacific Theater in World War II, and the United States made a promise to grant them veterans benefits as they were drafted into the U.S. service under President Roosevelt.’
But he said “Congress shamefully and unjustly legislated this promise away in two Rescissions Acts of 1946.”
The argument that S 1315 would take away benefits already being received by American veterans is so powerful that it is holding back support from some Democrats whose reelection bids are in jeopardy.
Some Republican congressmen led by Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) have assured Filner of their support. The question now is whether this would be enough to offset those Democrats who are reluctant to support it.
In the meantime, veterans groups as well at Filipino American organizations have intensified their lobbying activities in Congress.
The Philippine government is also utilizing its American lobbyists to convince opponents of the need to right an injustice.
Philippine Ambassador Willy C. Gaa has appealed to the Filipino community in the US to redouble their efforts to convince reluctant congressmen to support the bill.

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