On the whole, one must be happy for our Filipino Veterans of WWII who have been finally remembered in the new $787 billion federal stimulus bill passed by Congress.
But being remembered isn’t the same as being made whole.
Nearly 500,000 Filipino nationals who fought under the U.S. flag during World War II were promised full rights and benefits by Roosevelt in 1941. But they were denied by President Truman in 1946 when with a stroke of the pen, any and all promises made to the fighting Filipinos were rescinded.
The vets had their advocates throughout the years, but community politics was all about the Marcos dictatorship until the early ’80s. Since then, the aging veterans became the rallying cry of the community. And the word was equity–not compromise.
Every Congress, the battle would be waged. Every year the vets would be a few votes closer. But every year more vets would die. The stall/attrition tactic finds the number of eligible Filipinos down to about 15,000. Lobbying Congress has been its own death march.
To be included in the stimulus is a real breakthrough of sorts. The vets get something: A lump sum of $15,000 for those who are U.S. citizens; $9000 for non-citizens who are in the Philippines.
It’s just not like the $900 a month pension a normal low-income vet would get.
If a vet lives longer than 2 more years, then what? More money would be helpful.But in the end, it becomes something of an actuarial game. As the vets die off, the numbers decline, it finally reached a point where the vets could get something. And in this “something-is-better-than-nothing world,” we leave with what we can. What we have is not quite the money, not quite the recognition as full U.S. vets,and therefore not quite the equity we all sought.
In all my discussions with people on the inside of the negotiations, it was the best outcome for now in what had become the death march of politics.