BY JENNIE L. ILUSTRE
WASHINGTON – Rep. Bob Filner, Democrat from California, will
hold hearing on Feb. 15 on a bill granting pension to Filipino World War II
veterans living in the US and in the Philippines, his office said in reply to an
email late Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
The bill is expected to pass in the Democratic-dominated
110th US Congress. Filner is the chairman of the committee on veterans affairs
and the bill’s co-sponsor over the years. In the senate, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye
(D, Hawaii) re-filed the bill as S. 57, The Filipino Veterans Equity Act of
2007, when Congress opened Jan. 4.
But with the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV)
and other groups, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)
based in this US capital is not taking any chances. It is holding a meeting Feb.
3 Saturday "to discuss the budget and staffing" of a grassroots lobby group.
NaFFAA communications director Jon Melegrito said in a phone
interview on Feb. 1, "This is the closest opportunity we have of passing the
Equity bill, and we are going for it this year" before the 2008 presidential
elections upstage all issues.
The bill would benefit 5,000 US-based Filipino American and
green card-holder WWII veterans and 12,000 Filipino and Filipino American WWII
veterans living in the Philippines.
The House bipartisan bill is expected to be re-introduced
soon.
Both Filner and bill advocates are not mentioning any
appropriations figures.
"Trust me on this," Filner told veterans last December.
"First we get the authorization, then we talk about
appropriations," said Melegrito.
Negotiations would cover the monthly amount, and whether the
rates would be the same for veterans living in the US and the Philippines.
The bill amends Section 107 of Title 38 of the US Code
(Rescission Act of 1946).
When the Philippines was an American Commonwealth, 120,000
Filipinos heeded President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s military call. The Rescission
Act stopped pension and most other benefits.
Those with service-connected disability continued to receive
compensation and other benefits.
Since the late1980s, the US Congress has restored health and
burial benefits for nonservice-connected Filipino WW II veterans. It has also
equalized monthly disability compensation with that enjoyed by Americans with
the same service, but only for Filipino service-connected veterans living in the
US.
In a phone interview from Los Angeles , California, Frank
Arcebal, vice president for membership of ACFV, a registered lobby group, said
that "in the spirit of partnership," his organization would join the
December-formed steering committee’s lobbying efforts on the Equity bill.
NaFFAA and other groups are only lobbying for the Equity
bill. ACFV is simultaneously pushing for family reunification legislation.
"There’s no controversy with ACFV here, we are talking of unified strategy,"
said Melegrito.
"The Equity bill will be taken up in the veterans committee, and
reunification is an immigration bill that will go to the judiciary committee,"
Arcebal said.
