US solon renews push for Filipino Veterans Fairness Act

U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier is renewing her push for fairness for Filipino World War II veterans.

SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. Representative Jackie Speier (Dem-San Mateo) announced her renewed effort to pass the Filipino Veterans Fairness Act, holding a press conference with surviving veterans and their families at the Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center Saturday, June 13.

The Act would eliminate the distinction between Philippine Scouts, Recognized Guerilla Forces and the New Philippine Scouts.

It would also assure benefits to eligible veterans who already received lump sum payments. Their widows and children would also be made eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation just like any other veteran.

Speier re-introduced the Act the previous Thursday in Washington, DC. She had brought the Act to Congress in 2011, and then again in 2013.

Event organizer Ago Pedalizo told FilAm Star he met Speier four years ago, and she “is the person who really stood with us to fight for the veterans’ benefits.”

Strong-willed

Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura echoed Pedalizo, adding, “Speier is strong-willed and she finds issues that she can make a difference on. We need an advocate like her.”

Former Daly City mayor and current councilmember Mike Guingona promised to raise public awareness for Speier’s Act.

Similar bills have gone through Congress since 1993, but most died. Pedalizo said, “The Republicans want to cut down on spending. They will oppose any bill that would mean more money like immigration (reform) and veterans’ benefits.”

Speier explained, “There’s an underpinning of fear of immigration. Congress feared Filipinos would come to the U.S. to be citizens. That was a fundamentally flawed reasoning. The Filipinos are here anyway.”

Speier greeted supporters in the packed center. She said, “I’m very proud to be standing with American heroes. I’m not proud with what our government did after their sacrifices in Corregidor and Bataan.”

“They are all U.S. nationals before and after World War II because the Philippines was a U.S. Commonwealth. They were told by President Franklin Roosevelt that they would receive benefits. But in 1946, a rider (to Title 38 of the US Code or the Rescission Act) rescinded all their benefits. It’s shameful.”

Third time

She continued: “For the third time, I’m introducing this bill to right a wrong. It’s urgent because only 15,000 (of the 200,000 listed vets) are left. They are dying at a rate of 10 a day. Their average age is 85. I’m shocked and pained that we haven’t fixed it.”

Spier added, “Of the veterans from more than 60 other allied countries, only the Filipinos were denied their benefits. Why not the British or the French? In the (American) Recovery (and Reinvestment) Act (ARRA or the Stimulus in 2009), the $15,000 (payment for US citizens) and $9.000 (payment for non US citizens) were not the answers. It was pathetic, a mere pittance. (The amounts would be the equivalent of) between three to five months of regular benefits for veterans. We owe it to them.”

Speier told FilAm Star she’s optimistic this third time because “It’s doable in this budget, we’re spending less money.” Her strategy is to “find a bill because right now nothing is moving in Congress. I’ve got to find a bill that’s moving and bring it in as an amendment.”

“The American people, if given a choice, will do the right thing,” she declared. “We need to do the moral thing.”

Pedalizo told FilAm Star that the efforts to get the veterans’ benefits gained much traction recently when Sen. Brian Schatz (Dem-Hawaii) and a number of other senators and congressmen introduced legislation to award the Congressional gold medal to the vets.

Regalado Baldonado was with a guerilla unit in Laguna and came to the U.S. in 1993. He spoke about the interminable wait for his benefits to be processed. At 88, it has stopped being a waiting game and is now a matter of life and death.

For Norma Tan, her husband has run out of time. She said she has gone to Congress twice and hopes this will finally bring her the needed benefits.

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