SAN MATEO, California, United States—They came as they always did for commemorative events, dressed in their signature veterans’ uniforms, some with medals proudly displayed on their chests.
They have been waiting for the day when their courage and commitment to America would finally be recognized, when America would finally keep the promise it made to them at the onset of World War II.
At the moment, it’s still just House Bill HR 210, also known as the Filipino Veterans Fairness Act of 2011, introduced by Congresswoman Jackie Speier and still to be debated on the floors of Congress but it was a first step—one of many previous first steps—and another reason for these largely ignored heroes of the Second World War to perk up with hope.
It was one more occasion among many during the past six decades, for them to feel that maybe the US will stop trying to sweep them into the dust bins of forgotten promises and undo the injustice that was the Rescission Act of 1946.
Around the scheduled time of 1:45 p.m. Monday, 11 January 2011, Congresswoman Speier (D, San Francisco and San Mateo) entered the conference room of the building where her office is located in San Mateo, to a round of applause from the 25 or so veterans and another 20 veterans’ widows gathered there.
She went around one end of the room and shook hands with all the veterans lined up there and embraced some of the widows before taking her seat at the end of the long conference table. Then, she proceeded to speak about HR 210, a bill that would effectively repeal the Rescission Act and give Filipino-American veterans and their widows full benefits.
She said that the bill is asking for nothing more and nothing less than what was promised to them, underscoring the fact that, among non-American nationals that fought beside the US in WWII, only Filipino veterans have been singled out for such discriminatory treatment. The bill would end 65 years of institutionalized discrimination
When World War II erupted, the Philippines was a commonwealth of the United States, making Filipinos American nationals. Some 250,000 Filipinos fought side by side with the Americans. Many were imprisoned and tortured alongside them. And many died alongside them. At the start and then again immediately after the end of the war, the Filipinos were promised full benefits equal to those received by American citizens.
But on February 18, 1946, the Rescission Act was signed into law, formally rescinding the promises and stripping the Filipinos of all the benefits promised them. Those who, by some legal quirk, could not be denied benefits outright did receive them but at the reduced rate of 50-cents for every dollar Americans received.
Speier addressed this particular act of injustice, stating that there is no such thing as a half-citizen. She said it was time to stop the discrimination and correct the injustice and HR 210 intends to do just that.
After Speier’s speech, Felino Punzalan, whose military-straight bearing belied his 93 years, sat down and spoke in behalf of the veterans. In a soft but firm voice that seemed filled not with anger or bitterness but with unrelenting faith that America will do right by him and his compatriots, he thanked the congresswoman and, at the same time, implored her to make this long-delayed promise a reality.
And though he almost succeeded in holding back his emotions through his entire speech, his last words came haltingly as tears started to swell in his graying eyes.
Ago Pedalizo, area coordinator for the organization appropriately named Justice for Filipino-American Veterans (JFAV), gave an impassioned speech, calling the treatment of Filipino-American veterans discrimination against people of color. JFAV, according to its national coordinator, LA-based Arturo Garcia, has long been one of the major advocacy groups for the rights of Filipino American veterans. JFAV arranged this meeting between Speier and the veterans.
Rowena Battong, 77, a veteran’s widow, spoke in behalf of her fellow widows and reiterated the plea for help. According to Violy Reyes of JFAV, many of the widows live on welfare, one even resorting to collecting cans from trash bins to eke out a living.
Also present was Michael Guingona, Daly City council member. He stood among the veterans and the widows and engaged some of them in conversation before and after the conference.
In a show of continuing optimism and unconditional allegiance to the country that has given them not much more than a big, broken promise and a life on the edge of poverty, the veterans and the widows ended the conference in a spontaneous rendition of “God Bless America.” (Reprinted with permission from Inquirer.net.)
(Editor’s note: The author – Mr. Armando Chavez is the son of a war-decorated hero of WWII. He is also a classmate of the editor of this paper at the Ateneo de Manila University. His father, a retired colonel, was a survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March and was incarcerated at Capas, Tarlac and then at Fort Santiago where he was tortured by his Japanese captors with their version of water-boarding.)