Pinoy vets in US get early Christmas gift

STAR Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Christmas came early for Filipino World War II veterans living in the United States as President George W. Bush signed into law Saturday the Veterans Health Care Act of 2003.

This new law will provide health care benefits for 8,000 US-based Filipino veterans at an annual cost of $16.3 million, but some 21,000 other veterans living in the Philippines were left out in the cold.

The health care benefits for Filipino veterans will go into effect in fiscal year 2004 which started Oct. 1, 2003 and ends Sept. 30, 2004.

The measure, signed without fanfare on the eve of the 62nd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was seen as a moral victory for the old Filipino soldiers who have been lobbying to be recognized for their wartime services for their adopted country.

Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario welcomed the new law but said it marked only the beginning of the fight for full equity for all Filipino war veterans.

"We will not rest until we accomplish our mission," he told The STAR.

Another measure awaiting Bush’s signature is the Veterans’ Survivor Benefits Enhancements Act that allocates $2.9 million a year to benefits for over 400 widows of Filipino war veterans in the United States.

The act also covers the full compensation for war-related injuries and illnesses for some 120 New Philippine Scouts, veterans who enlisted in the US army after Japan surrendered in August 1945. They were left out in a measure passed in 2000 that granted full-rate compensation to Philippine Commonwealth Army veterans and recognized guerrillas with war-related disability.

Eric Lachica, executive director of the Washington-based American Coalition of Filipino Veterans (ACFV), said it was imperative for the Philippine government to lobby strenuously for full equity "especially for our guys back home who need it more."

On hearing the news that they were getting health care after lobbying for it for over seven years, veterans from across the US began congregating in Washington for a celebration at the Philippine embassy on Monday.

They hope to meet Bush at the White House to thank him for personally pushing for the health care issue.

Businesswoman Loida Nicolas Lewis, who heads the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), welcomed the success of the US-based Filipino veterans and said attention must now be turned to help veterans in the Philippines.

"I hope that we can mount the same energy and enthusiasm in finally restoring to all Filipino World War II veterans the honor and dignity stripped from them by the 1946 Rescission Act. The equity bill is the next mountain to climb and conquer," she said in a statement.

The Rescission Act barred Filipino veterans from receiving US privileges or benefits despite the fact that the Filipinos were drafted into service by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a time when the Philippines was a territory of the United States.

The Rescission Act, passed by Congress shortly after the end of the war, decreed that such rights, privileges and benefits were the obligation of the new government of the Philippines.

But the new government in Manila did not have any money for that purpose and the veterans were left to fend for themselves.

In a letter to The Washington Times last year, Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, called for the repeal of the Rescission Act.

"With the participation of Filipino soldiers so vital to the successful outcome of World War II, it is hard to believe that Congress voted to take away their benefits and recognition that had been promised," Filner said. He has on several occasions said that at the very least medical care should be provided to the veterans.

"It is time to restore the dignity of the Filipino World War II veterans and to recognize them for their defense of democratic ideals," Filner said in the letter.

His letter was addressed to Sergeant Shaft, pseudonym of Vietnam veteran John Fales, who writes a once-a-week column on veterans’ affairs in the newspaper.

The columnist in his own comment on the issue said it was abhorrent that the US government had turned its back on "some of our most loyal and bravest veterans."

Filipino veterans here have been fighting for their benefits one step at a time. Their next and final goal is passage of new legislation providing health care and non-service connected disability pensions for their comrades in the Philippines.

There are presently two bills in Congress that seek to benefit veterans based in the Philippines, Senate Bill S68 costing about $42 million annually and House Bill HR677 costing about $238 million.

S68 provides a monthly $100 pension for the 21,000 veterans in the Philippines, commonly referred to as Filvets, and $500,000 a year for medical equipment for the Philippine Veterans Memorial Center in Quezon City.

HR677 calls for an annual expenditure of $21 million for the health care of the veterans and a monthly $800 pension for each and every one of them.

President Arroyo has publicly come out in favor of HR677 but at a time of burgeoning US budget deficits, even the most optimistic Filvet supporter believes S68 is a more attainable goal.

Lewis said S68 "comes closest to fulfilling our veterans’ demand for justice and equity, and for official recognition as soldiers of the US Armed Forces."

"To this end, NaFFAA will work closely with grassroots organizations, national advocacy groups, our allies in Congress and everyone else who are committed to rectifying this historic injustice. We will mobilize our community’s collective resources to achieve the true and real victory that our veterans richly deserve," she said.

ACFV president Pat Ganio said he was happy that Filipino veterans in the US were granted health care benefits but lamented that their comrades in the Philippines came up empty-handed.

Franco Arcebal, a veteran living in Los Angeles, said the Arroyo administration should hire a Washington lobbying firm to work for the welfare of the 21,000 veterans in the Philippines because their US pensions will boost the local economy.

He explained that for the veterans in the Philippines to have a shot at receiving benefits from the US government next year, Bush must include the provision in his next proposed budget to Congress.

"If Bush does not support the equity package by making a provision for it in his line budget by the end of February, it’s not going to happen in 2004 in my opinion because Congress will adjourn early for the elections," said ACFV’s Lachica.

"The bottom line is the Philippine embassy in Washington has to move heaven and earth to lobby for this," he added.

Over the years, the ACFV has spearheaded the lobbying campaign in Congress, winning partial victories including the Burial Benefits Law in 2000.

"This is the bitter irony — our Filipino veterans are now buried as American veterans in national cemeteries. However, when they are still alive, they are denied access to VA hospitals," Lachica said.

Next on the agenda for Lachica’s group after passage of the health care bill is a monthly pension of $100 for the Filipino soldiers back home who fought for the United States.

However, many legislators are skittish because of the huge costs involved and a long struggle is forecast.