A photo-op followed, with the governor posing with each group of veterans from five cities. As rehearsed earlier, they muttered their line of thanks and gave way to Rudy Asercion, a US Navy veteran of the San Francisco’s War Memorial Commission and the American Legion Bataan Post, who presented the governor with a barong tagalog.
As though to make up for having arrived late for the photo-op, the governor, himself a war veteran as he had been a member of the Austrian army before he immigrated to the US, broke into a spiel. "This is a land of opportunity," he said, referring to his adopted country, the US. "If you play your cards right, if you marry a Kennedy, you can be successful." He praised the veterans. "They’re the ones who give us freedom of speech, freedom to make money."
He bowed out of the room with the words, "I’ll be back." Meaning back to the Capitol after the gubernatorial election in November.
Present at the festive gathering was Tom Johnson, the California State Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, Inc., and the governor’s staff of young, tall and handsome men who looked like movie stars themselves. Helping Eric in as far as the San Jose veterans were concerned was Sara Gonzalez, executive director of the San Jose-based Filipino Youth Coalition. As the governor, however, had his hands full with numerous concerns, it would be his staff who would show him the group’s letter that had brought them to the Capitol.
The letter appealed to Schwarzenegger to assist them in persuading Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert and the House Judiciary Committee chairman, James Sensenbrenner, to support the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification (FVFR) amendment in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S. 2611) that recently passed in the US Senate and which is now in conference negotiations in the House.
The amendment would provide priority visas to adult children of Filipino American WWII veterans with approved immigration petitions.
The veterans wrote that they have patiently waited for more than 10 years with approved petitions to legally immigrate to the US. Now elderly and ailing, 60 years after they had defended America, they "need and deserve the companionship and care" of their children in their few remaining years.
The groups were led by Jose Nuega of Sacramento; Filemon Mordeno of San Francisco; Dominador Valdez of San Jose; Bernado Jasmin and Eddie Arabe of Sta. Clara, Ernesto Anolin of Delano, and Avelino Asuncion of San Diego. Joining them were two dozen Sacramento community leaders mobilized by Sal Marcellana, Cheryl Hutchins, J.D. Asis, and Kathy Pflaum.
The leaders also thanked the governor for his letter dated Dec. 8, 2005, urging President George W. Bush to support their pending legislation, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act (S. 146-H.R. 4574) in Congress that would fully restore full US recognition and veterans’ pension benefits to surviving Filipino veterans who fought in the US Army during World War II. The Equity Act had broad support in Congress, and a similar bill considered by the last Congress was sponsored by over 200 members of the House.
Schwarzenegger’s letter said: "While an estimated 300,000 Filipino veterans served in the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) in World War II, a federal law was passed in 1946 that rescinded their eligibility for veterans’ benefits. Currently, less than 30,000 Filipino veterans live in the United States and the Philippines. Most are entitled to the full array of benefits offered to fellow American veterans – specifically Disability Pension benefits. These benefits were promised to and earned by these veterans, but the promise was not fulfilled after the war.
"This inequity exists today. The Filipino Veterans Equity Act would fully recognize the military service of these veterans to this nation. An existing budget proposal in the House of Representatives would provide them with a modest $200 monthly disability pension to complement the VA health care benefits that Congress had restored in 2003 upon your Administration’s request.
"Action is needed in this Congress because the number of surviving Filipino veterans of World War II decreases with each passing year. I feel the United States government should recognize the military service of these veterans and provide them the benefits they deserve. While Congress has adopted legislation that provides a limited number of benefits to some of these veterans, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act would eliminate gaps in coverage that remain and would ensure all Filipino veterans receive the same benefits available to American veterans of that war."
Congress has not passed the equity act, however.
Among the veterans who had gone to the Sacramento Capitol was Bernaldo Tugade of Balongao, Pangasinan. He belonged to the 121st Infantry C Co., 1st Battalion, UC 5th NL, and was wounded at Hill No. 1 in Kiangan, Mt. Province. He received a Purple Heart for his action. Of his five children, two have been granted petitions, but so far they have not received their case numbers.
Also a Purple Heart awardee is Jose Evangelista Nuega, the leader of the Sacramento group. He was wounded in action in Bato Pito, Jolo, Sulu, on April 9, 1945. His wife, Monina, said their children – 15 of them – are all in the Philippines. "Everyday, I cry for them," she said. What worries her is that filing for a petition, which was only US$92 in 1994, now costs US$310.
Avelino Asuncion, who lives in San Diego, but originally comes from Cabugao. Ilocos Sur, was a prisoner of war after he surrendered in 1942 to the Japanese in the Bicol Region. He is now 88 years old.
Leon A. Agda, who was with Colonel Marking’s Philippine-American Troop, was incarcerated in Pangil, Laguna for more than a month. When his father learned that Leon was going to be executed, he appealed to a Japanese civilian who was married to a relative of theirs, to spare his son. Leon, in his late 70s, has six children, and five of them are in the US. But one son left behind should be allowed to join him, Leon said.
Onofre Macapagal, whose mother is a first cousin of the late President Diosdado Macapagal, wore a grey suit and a disarming smile, and had his hair colored brown. He was the one who exclaimed to the governor, "Exterminator! Hasta la vista!"
Filemon Mordeno of Davao City has 10 children. Only one of them is now living in Houston, Texas.
The former actor has shown his sympathy for the veterans, as he has for the downtrodden in his action films. Earlier, on Nov. 23, 2005, he also wrote the State School Board of Education encouraging a component in the state’s social science lessons on the courage and sacrifices of the Filipino people and their soldiers during World War II.
According to Lachica, the ACFV, in partnership with local groups, will hold public action forums in various cities on the Family Reunification Amendment campaign. The first will be held on June 24 at the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital auditorium in Los Angeles, and the second, on July 9 in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Once Family Reunification is passed, there will be tears for parents and children – tears of joy.