BY JENNIE L. ILUSTRE
WASHINGTON– Congressman Bob Filner, chairman
of the committee on veterans affairs in the 110th congress, is
eyeing an April 9 House floor vote on the equity pension bill
for Filipino World War II veterans living in the US and in the
Philippines.
"We’re gonna try to take this up in committee
within a few weeks, and I would like to take it on the floor
before Bataan Day," he told Malaya after his two-hour committee
hearing on the bill on Thursday (Friday in Manila ).
The equity pension bill seeks to amend a law
by restoring monthly pension to Filipino WWII veterans in the
Philippines and the US.
Pension stopped in 1946 when Congress passed
the Rescission Act, now Section 107, Title 3 of the United
States Code. The law limits benefits to veterans with
service-connected (combat-related) disability.
Filner, who recently visited President Fidel
V. Ramos and President Arroyo, has sponsored or co-sponsored
Filipino WWII veterans benefits bills over 10 years. As
chairman, Filner has fast tracked the equity bill, holding the
hearing two weeks after re-filing it as HR 760 on January 31,
with Republican Congressman Darrell Issa (California) among the
co-sponsors.
Although the two-hour hearing was a "love
fest" among Democratic committee members and most of the 15
witnesses who support the veterans, it quickly became clear the
issue would be the bill’s appropriations.
Questions from Congressman John Boozman
(Republican-Arkansas) appeared to float the idea of a monthly
pension of $200, given the fiscal constraints caused by the US
deficit and the growing expense of the war in Iraq .
When asked by Boozman on the total number of
surviving veterans, Philippine Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission
Carlos D. Sorreta said, "twenty thousand," with 13,000 in the
Philippines and about 7,000 in the US.
But the figure has yet to be validated by the
US Veterans Affairs to determine the appropriations over a
10-year period.
House approval will help smooth passage of
the sister bill in the Senate.
This was relayed by a budget-conscious Sen.
Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), the new chairman of the committee on
veterans affairs, to the National Alliance for Filipino Veterans
Equity and the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans this
week. Akaka promised a hearing in April but stopped short of
guaranteeing the bill’s passage.
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye from Hawaii re-filed
the bill as S 57 when the 110th US Congress opened January 4.
Inouye, author of several Filipino WWII veterans bills that
became laws, said "we will get it in, we will get it passed"
this year in reply to this reporter on February 6.
Community leaders welcomed the Inouye
assurance with cautious optimism. Reason: Democrats hold a slim
51-49 majority in the Senate, and with Republican Vice President
Dick Cheney as tie-breaker, it’s actually a one-vote majority.
In his two-page testimony, Sorreta urged
Congress to pass the bill "on behalf of a nation that has stood
by yours in the name of liberty and freedom in World War II, in
the uncertain decades after, and in facing today’s new and grave
challenges."
Other witnesses were five Asian American Democratic lawmakers
who endorsed the bill, US Veterans Affairs Deputy Undersecretary
for Benefits Ronald R. Aument, who wanted more data before USVA
stakes a position on the bill, veterans leader Franco Arcebal,
who flew from California, and community leader Alma Q. Kerns,
who also flew 3,000 miles from Washington State, to urge the
committee to right the 61-year injustice.
