EDITORIAL - Not worth giving up a life for

Last week, celebrating the end of World War I, Americans observed Remembrance Day to honor all who have responded to the call of duty in defense of their country. Those who heeded the call to America's wars were not all Americans. Many were Filipinos.

But Filipinos, for all intents and purposes, are not a party to the observance. The Filipinos who gave up their lives for America, and those who are still alive today, may just as well be what is now known in military parlance as collateral damage.

They were drawn into a conflict that was never waged for their own interests. If the Filipinos decided to join the fight of the Americans, on the mistaken notion that friendship and honor meant nearly the same thing, they did so on their own as is now so sadly clear.

Of course Filipino veterans are getting a little something from the United States. But to say a little something is even a gross understatement. What they are getting is not even enough to tide over what is left of their dignity as human beings before they die.

When Filipinos joined America's wars, it was never for compensation. If it were, they would not have joined. To lay one's life on the line is never the product of a conscious desire to get paid. To put oneself in harm's way for others is always for something higher than pay.

The remuneration now being sought should be equated in one perspective alone — as a recognition of the selflessness to dedicate a human life in furtherance of the principles of a country that is not even his own.

But America continues to drag its feet over the issue. In so doing it is reinforcing long-held suspicions that it is only quick to solicit help from others when its own national interests are on the line but is never as quick to reciprocate.

Sometime next year, when another Remembrance Day swings around, there will even be fewer Filipino veterans of American wars who continue to wait for something that is not coming.

In a few years there will be none. Their sacrifices for America shall have been all in vain.