Filipino WWII reenactor links at bottom.
Philippine WWII veterans seek equality from US
By OLIVER TEVES – 17 hours ago
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Something is better than nothing, Filipino veterans said Wednesday after hearing they could get lump-sum benefit payments from the U.S. government more than six decades after they fought alongside American forces during World War II.
But they also said they will continue to press Washington to put them on par with their U.S. comrades-in-arms, claiming they have been short-changed and that Congress is dragging its feet as remaining survivors die of old age.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the "Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2008" that would make one-time payments of $15,000 to Filipinos who are U.S. citizens and $9,000 to non-U.S. Filipino veterans.
"Whatever the Americans give, the Filipinos will receive," said retired Col. Francisco San Miguel, secretary general of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines. He added, however, they "will not stop seeking what is rightfully due to Filipinos. We will still seek equal treatment."
Filipino veterans have been clamoring for decades for the same benefits received by their American comrades who fought the Japanese.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill on veterans' affairs in April that provided additional pensions for many of the surviving veterans but has not acted on the House legislation. The senators could eith er approve the House version or hold a joint committee to work out differences before a final version is signed into law by the U.S. president.
Japan invaded the Philippines, then a U.S. colony, in December 1941.
When Filipinos were conscripted into the U.S. Army, they were promised full benefits as veterans. But after the war, the U.S. Congress reversed the promise in the Rescissions Acts of 1946.
Veterans who began receiving benefits before the Rescissions Acts continued to receive them.
Benefits for other veterans, many of whom fought in the Philippine jungles in U.S. uniforms and were forced by Japanese captors on the infamous Bataan Death March with their American comrades, were discontinued because they were deemed not to have been on active duty.
San Miguel, 81, said Filipino veterans "are getting older and they are dying one by one."
"What the Americans plan is when you die, too bad for your family. Only the living are going to receive benefits," he said, referring to proposals, cut from the House bill, that would have provided a $4,500 annual pension for a married eligible veteran living in the Philippines and $3,600 annual pension for an unmarried eligible veteran.
Enrique Aquino, a retired Filipino-American naval officer, told the Manila Bulletin newspaper that if those benefits are not be restored, the House bill "will be worse than the Rescissions Act of 1946."
Teodoro Torres, a 91-yea r-old former sergeant from Batangas province who survived the Bataan Death March, said he currently receives about $1,000 in a monthly disability pension. His one-time payment under the U.S. House legislation would be equal to only nine months of his pension.
Cesario Canlas, an 83-year-old former wartime guerrilla, said he would agree to the latest U.S. offer. He receives only $106 in a monthly pension.
"For me, that will do because I am already old," his daughter, Violy, quoted him as saying. Canlas has hearing difficulties.
The Bataan Death March started after U.S. forces surrendered in Bataan province west of Manila in April 1942. Japanese troops force marched an estimated 70,000 men 65 miles to a prison camp. Only 54,000 survived.
www.philippine-scouts.org/
pinoyhistory.proboards22.com/index.cgi
Philippine WWII veterans seek equality from US
By OLIVER TEVES – 17 hours ago
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Something is better than nothing, Filipino veterans said Wednesday after hearing they could get lump-sum benefit payments from the U.S. government more than six decades after they fought alongside American forces during World War II.
But they also said they will continue to press Washington to put them on par with their U.S. comrades-in-arms, claiming they have been short-changed and that Congress is dragging its feet as remaining survivors die of old age.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the "Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2008" that would make one-time payments of $15,000 to Filipinos who are U.S. citizens and $9,000 to non-U.S. Filipino veterans.
"Whatever the Americans give, the Filipinos will receive," said retired Col. Francisco San Miguel, secretary general of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines. He added, however, they "will not stop seeking what is rightfully due to Filipinos. We will still seek equal treatment."
Filipino veterans have been clamoring for decades for the same benefits received by their American comrades who fought the Japanese.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill on veterans' affairs in April that provided additional pensions for many of the surviving veterans but has not acted on the House legislation. The senators could eith er approve the House version or hold a joint committee to work out differences before a final version is signed into law by the U.S. president.
Japan invaded the Philippines, then a U.S. colony, in December 1941.
When Filipinos were conscripted into the U.S. Army, they were promised full benefits as veterans. But after the war, the U.S. Congress reversed the promise in the Rescissions Acts of 1946.
Veterans who began receiving benefits before the Rescissions Acts continued to receive them.
Benefits for other veterans, many of whom fought in the Philippine jungles in U.S. uniforms and were forced by Japanese captors on the infamous Bataan Death March with their American comrades, were discontinued because they were deemed not to have been on active duty.
San Miguel, 81, said Filipino veterans "are getting older and they are dying one by one."
"What the Americans plan is when you die, too bad for your family. Only the living are going to receive benefits," he said, referring to proposals, cut from the House bill, that would have provided a $4,500 annual pension for a married eligible veteran living in the Philippines and $3,600 annual pension for an unmarried eligible veteran.
Enrique Aquino, a retired Filipino-American naval officer, told the Manila Bulletin newspaper that if those benefits are not be restored, the House bill "will be worse than the Rescissions Act of 1946."
Teodoro Torres, a 91-yea r-old former sergeant from Batangas province who survived the Bataan Death March, said he currently receives about $1,000 in a monthly disability pension. His one-time payment under the U.S. House legislation would be equal to only nine months of his pension.
Cesario Canlas, an 83-year-old former wartime guerrilla, said he would agree to the latest U.S. offer. He receives only $106 in a monthly pension.
"For me, that will do because I am already old," his daughter, Violy, quoted him as saying. Canlas has hearing difficulties.
The Bataan Death March started after U.S. forces surrendered in Bataan province west of Manila in April 1942. Japanese troops force marched an estimated 70,000 men 65 miles to a prison camp. Only 54,000 survived.
www.philippine-scouts.org/
pinoyhistory.proboards22.com/index.cgi
