US House OKs health care for Fil-Am war vets

WASHINGTON – The US House of Representatives has voted to provide health care to 11,000 Filipino World War II veterans now living in the US, putting them on par for the first time with their American counterparts.

The health care provision for the Filipino-American veterans was inserted as a clause in a wider bill known as the Veterans Health Care and Procurement Improvement Act, or HR 3645, which the House passed by voice vote without opposition on Monday.

The struggle to secure health care for non-service related illnesses suffered by US-based Filipino war veterans had been a major hurdle in their pursuit of full GI benefits.

Rep. Jerry Moran (Republican, Kansas), chairman of the House veterans administration sub-committee on health, said Filipinos who fought alongside US troops in the Philippines during World War II deserve access to veterans health care.

Moran had introduced the bipartisan bill for final approval. HR 3645 seeks to reform the procurement process for medical and surgical supplies for veterans.

When enacted into law, the bill will provide an annual budget expenditure of $11.6 million for Filipino-American war veterans who had been previously excluded from medical care.

However, the 34,000 Filipino soldiers who fought side-by-side with the Americans but chose to stay in the Philippines would get nothing.

Dropped from consideration on budgetary and policy grounds was an earlier proposal that would have authorized $2.5 million for full dependency indemnity compensation for 438 widows, and $500,000 for war-related injury compensation for 110 New Philippine Scouts now permanently residing in the US.

Supporters of Filipino war veterans in the Senate hope to reinstate the provision on compensation for widows and New Scouts in a similar bill up for consideration in the chamber. The two bills will then have to be reconciled before being presented to US President George W. Bush for signing.

Filipino war veterans hope the new law will take effect in October, the start of fiscal year 2003.

There is no reference to Filipino veterans in both the House and Senate bills, but US Veterans Administration chief Anthony Principi said he would provide a $500,000 grant from his own budget for medical equipment for the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.

Eric Lachica, executive director of the Washington-based American Coalition for Filipino Veterans that is spearheading the fight to extend GI benefits to Filipinos, quoted VA sources as saying Secretary of State Colin Powell would hand over the grant to President Arroyo during their meeting in Manila on Aug. 2.