BY JENNIE L. ILUSTRE

WASHINGTON – The US Senate committee on veterans affairs will hold a hearing April 11 on a bill seeking monthly pensions for Filipino World War II veterans living in the United States and in the Philippines.

If the bill passes and takes effect in the 2008 fiscal year starting October, it would apply to an estimated 5,000 US-based veterans and 12,000 veterans in the Philippines with non-service-connected (not combat–related) disability. Filipino service-connected veterans have been receiving disability compensation since the end of the war.

As in the February 15 House hearing, Filipino veteran leaders, US Veterans Administration and Philippine government officials will testify at the two-hour hearing which begins at 9:30 a.m. (April 11, 9:30 p.m. in Manila).

Two former WWII veterans and powerful Democratic senators from Hawaii, who together have supported Filipino veterans benefits bills since the 1980s, will be at the center of the hearing.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, veterans affairs committee chair, will preside. Sen. Daniel Inouye is expected to testify on behalf of his bill, S. 57 or

the proposed "Filipino Veterans Equity Act," co-sponsored by Akaka.

The hearing demonstrates the commitment and speeded-up House and Senate timetables under the new Democrat-led 110th US Congress to pass the bill this year.

But Democrats and advocacy leaders here admit Republican support remains crucial, particularly in the Senate where they hold a slim 51-49 majority, compared to 28 seats in the House.

"That’s why we have stepped up our lobbying," said Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans (ACFV) based in this US capital.

He added ACFV leaders across the US would be at the hearing and on Bataan Action Day on Capitol Hill.

The National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity based here has also been lobbying Congress and leading a write-your-legislators campaign.

Alma Q. Kerns and Rozita Lee, National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) national chair and vice chair recently met with Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), who assured them he "would talk to Senator Akaka."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said the bill was among her top priorities. "This is an issue that affects many of my constituents in San Francisco and something that I have continuously supported since I arrived in Congress," she said.

On March 12, four ACFV leaders testified in the Maryland House of Delegates in Annapolis for Joint Resolution H.J.R. 6. The resolution urged President George W. Bush and Maryland Senators Barbara Mikulski (D) and Benjamin Cardin (D) to support the Inouye-Akaka equity bill.

Newly-elected Maryland state delegate Kris Valderrama (D) co-sponsored the resolution. Over 35,000 Filipinos reside in Maryland.