|
U.S. Congressional bills seek
to provide equity
H.R. 302 introduced by Republican
Randy Cunningham and co-sponsored by Democrat Bob Filner in the
House, and S.B. 146 introduced by Sen.Daniel Inouye, will
amend the Rescission Act of 1946, which stripped Filipino soldiers
drafted into U.S. military service in the Philippines during WW
II of their U.S. veteran status.
The Rescission Act of 1946 which stated that the service of these
Filipino soldiers “shall not be deemed to be or to have
been service in the military or naval forces of the United States”
will simply be corrected by both measures by making this service
“deemed to be active service” in the U.S. military
Passage of both bills will mean official recognition of Filipino
veterans as American veterans; they will thus be eligible for
veterans benefits such as: health care, disability compensation,
pension, burial, housing loans, education, and vocational rehabilitation
Both H.R. 302 and S.B. 146 are bipartisan bills, with support
from Democrats and Republicans.
Previous legislation
to partially restore some benefits fall short of equity and justice
The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that have provided partial
benefits to Filipino WW II veterans that include: allowing veterans
repatriating to the Philippines to bring 75% of their SSI monthly
benefit if they were already SSI recipients as of December 14,
1999; providing VA health care and burial benefits including permission
to apply to be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery to veterans
residing in the U.S.; ending the 50 cents on the dollar calculation
for disability compensation benefits being received by some veterans
and their spouses residing in the U.S.
These pieces of legislation introduce a division between veterans
who have been able to come to the U.S. and are residing here and
the veterans residing the Philippines who are not eligible for
these partial benefits because they are not U.S. residents.
Organizations for veterans residing in the Philippines such as
the Veterans Federation of the Philippines have criticized this
divisive designation.
Partial restoration of benefits do not address the foremost issues
of honor tarnished, dignity stripped, and status denied which
resulted from the provisions of the Rescission Act of 1946.
H.R. 302's and S.B. 146's amendment to that Act is the
only vehicle that will lead to justice through full restoration
of U.S. veteran status and eligibility for benefits. Legislation
that falls short of restoration of status in fact only serves
to promote the mistaken notion that the struggle for equity is
about greed for “stateside benefits” rather than for
honor, justice, and equal treatment.
Equity for
Filipino veterans corrects the legal, historical, and moral violation
of recognized and practiced rules on U.S. military service
Filipino soldiers during WW II became veterans of the U.S. military
because on July 26, 1941, President Roosevelt issued a military
order inducting members of the entire Commonwealth Army of the
Philippines into U.S. military service, placing them under the
command of a general officer of the U.S. army to be designated
by the Secretary of War, and making them members of the USAFFE.
Other outfits affected by Roosevelt’s order were the Philippine
Scouts (“Old” and “New”), and the guerrilla
forces which were organized to resist the Japanese occupation
after the USAFFE’s surrender to Japan in May 1942.
Prior to the enactment of the Rescission act of 1946, the status
of the Filipino soldiers was recognized to be U.S. servicemen.
In April 1942, the U.S. Attorney General recognized that the Filipino
soldiers ordered in 1941 into U.S. military service by President
Roosevelt were “in active service in the land and naval
forces of the United States”.
For their service, these Filipino military personnel were at first
included in consideration for benefits under the 1944 GI Bill
of Rights. This law required active service in the armed
forces of the U.S. to become eligible for veterans benefits.
The Filipino soldiers were covered by the Second War Powers Act
which provided special immigration and naturalization benefits
for non-U.S. citizen members of the U.S. military.
Its implementation in the Philippines in 1945-1946 made access
by the Filipino soldiers to the designated U.S. immigration officer
extremely limited, making it impossible to avail of the benefit.
U.S. veteran status for the Filipinos in the U.S. military service
was reconfirmed in September 1945 by the Federal Bureau of Veterans
Affairs which stated that they were eligible for U.S. veterans
benefits.
In a sense, the Filipino fighters were unfairly tricked in that
the U.S. accepted the benefit from their efforts against the Japanese
but once Japan was defeated, they were denied recognition of their
service. This injustice would be corrected through H.R.
302 and S.B. 146’s restoration of U.S. veteran status to
the Filipino soldiers covered by President Roosevelt’s military
order.
Support for
H.R. 302 & S.B. 146 recognizes the role Filipino soldiers
played in WW II and the sacrifices they made for the U.S.
Lt. Col. Edwin Ramsey, a retired U.S. Army officer provided at
a 1998 Congressional hearing on Filipino veterans an analysis
of how Japan came to occupy the Philippines, “. .
. had we not been in the war, and were that not a territory of
the United States, the Philippines may not have been attacked,
because the Japanese were not looking for other places to stir
up trouble and it wasn’t a major source of raw materials
such as it was in Indonesia . . .” In other words,
Filipinos suffered from Japanese occupation because of U.S. hold
on the Philippines. Furthermore, the U.S. relied primarily
on Filipino soldiers inducted into the U.S. military to resist
the Japanese occupying forces.
The role of the Filipino military personnel in the USAFFE has
been lauded as heroic and substantial in enabling the U.S. to
succeed in its war effort. When war broke out, there were less
than 32,000 regular U.S. troops in the Philippines. The
induction of Filipinos into the U.S. service added at least 120,000
troops who then faced the almost 500,000 occupying Japanese forces.
Congresswoman Pelosi, at that 1998 Congressional hearing on Filipino
veterans, echoed historians’ assessments that the defeat
of the Japanese military in the Philippines was the start of the
demise of Japan in the war. The courageous efforts of the
Filipino soldiers, scouts, and guerrillas were instrumental in
that success.
The estimated number of Filipinos killed in this war by both Japanese
and American attacks is over 1 million and the estimated cost
of the physical damage at 1950 prices is $5.8 billion.
The Equity Bill is a step in the right
direction to ending the second class status treatment of Filipino
veterans
Non-U.S. citizen veterans of the U.S. military came from 66 countries,
yet only those from the Philippines were stripped of their U.S.
veteran status. The Filipinos’ colonial subject status
worked against the Filipino soldiers, making it quite easy for
the U.S. Congress to act with impunity in denying recognition
of their honorable and courageous service.
Support for both measures in Congress is also an act against discrimination
and racism and a voice for equality. For more information, log
on to www.naffaa.org
or www.fullequitynow.com
|
