on the issue of full equity for filipino veterans of the second world war

on friday, november 11 (from 9am-5pm) people's core and justice for filipino-american veterans will hold the 5th annual veterans day parade and march for recognition, justice, and full equity for filipino veterans of the second world war. tp will send a group to take part in this parade. if you are free early friday morning, i strongly encourage you to join us.

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so if you went to the veteran's panel meeting on october 27 you should already know how important this issue is for the filipino veterans and the filipino-american community. but for the rest of you, here's a brief overview.....

during the second world war, an estimated 200,000 filipinos served under the united states flag. they risked their lives and suffered through many atrocities such as the bataan death march to defend/retake the philippines and ultimately fought for a united states victory. you'd figure that fighting alongside american soldiers and suffering through the same atrocities as they did, the filipino veterans would receive the same u.s. veteran's benefits as everyone else would; however, this was not to be the case.

the 1946 recission act deprived the filipino world war ii veterans from these benefits. among the foreign u.s. veterans of 66 countries, the the veterans from the philippines were the only ones denied these benefits. many of the filipino veterans have not received these benefits to this day.

recently some progress has been made. you can read more about the following from an la times article written by richard simon here. in 2003 a measure was passed that "extends full war-related disability pension and burial benefits to about 100 filipino veterans and 400 soldiers' widows living in the united states. they previously received benefits at half the rate paid to u.s. veterans" (simon). another passed measure in 2003 extended "veterans affairs health benefits to an estimated 7,000 surviving filipino world war ii veterans living in the united states" (simon).

this is good progress, but the fight is far from over. the filipino veterans are still fighting for...

"a broader package of U.S. veterans' benefits, including full access to VA health care for the estimated 21,000 Filipino World War II veterans living in the Philippines. They also seek pensions for low-income veterans: up to $800 a month for those living in the United States and $100 a month for those in the Philippines." (simon)

today there are 2 bills in congress addressing this issue, hr 302 and s 146.

currently these bills have been read and referred to the committee of veteran's affairs. if these bills are passed all filipino veterans will finally have the full equity that they have been unjustly denied. the bills, however, face a long and hard road to passage primarily due to a congress that is trying to cut the budget deficit and deal with iraq and social security at the same time.

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despite the importance of this issue there is not enough awareness about it amongst the filipino-american community and the mainstream populace. the veteran's day parade march hopes to raise that awareness.

again, the parade is on friday, november 11, starting at 9am at historic filipinotown. if you're free and haven't left for weekender yet, i strongly encourage you to come.

here's a link to the american coalition for filipino veterans site for more information about the issue.