Lawmakers introduce bill to help Filipino veterans receive deserved benefits
US Senators Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined forces with Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) Thursday, Jan. 15 and introduced the Filipino Veterans Promise Act to Congress, a bipartisan legislation which will establish a process for all eligible Filipino veterans to receive the compensation they are entitled to for their service to the United States during World War II.
The act would direct the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to consult with military historians and establish a process to determine whether certain individuals might qualify for government benefits and compensation, if they are not already on an approved list.
“Many Filipino veterans who served during World War II call Nevada home. Unfortunately, they have yet to receive the benefits they earned and deserve,” said Heller. “The Filipino Veterans Promise Act helps fulfill America’s promise and ensures these veterans are treated fairly and with respect.”
Heller has backed similar veterans’ rights legislation before in earlier sessions of Congress in 2012 and 2013, receiving endorsements of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans and the Nevada chapter of the Filipino-American Veterans and Families of America.
“Since my first days in the Senate, I have fought for this legislation because of its importance to the Filipino community. That’s why I take great pride in this bill,” Heller said.
In 2012, he sent a letter to then Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urging his department to establish a process that will give Filipino veterans the opportunity to prove their service.
In his letter, Heller wrote, “It is my belief that in working with military historians, you can establish standards for documentation to support whether or not an individual had served during World War II in the Philippines for veterans benefit purposes.”
Heller and Hirono first introduced the Filipino Veterans Promise Act in late 2013 as a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, a yearly federal law specifying the budget and expenditures of the US Department of Defense.
“We have heard the stories of how numerous Filipino soldiers were afraid to record their names during WWII, for fear the enemy would obtain roster lists and retaliate against them,” Hirono said in a statement. “[The Filipino Veterans Promise Act] would provide Filipino WWII veterans a process to prove that they indeed served and are eligible for the benefits they’ve been promised.”
After World War II, the US Army created the Approved Revised Reconstructed Guerrilla Roster of 1948, also known as the “Missouri List,” based on the individuals who came forward after the war to receive health care benefits.
The list has been used by the military to verify the soldiers who fought alongside US troops in the Philippines. Heller, Hirono, and Meng and others believe it is possible that some Filipino veterans who fought in the war were not added to the list and could be improperly denied benefits.
Thousands of Filipino war veterans, many of them in their late 80s, were deemed “ineligible” to receive amounts from the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC)—a $198-million fund authorized by President Barack Obama under the American Reinvestment Act of 2008—due to lack of required documentation.
Under FVEC, one-time lump sum payments of $15,000 were to be distributed to each Filipino World War II veteran, if he is a US citizen or resident. Veterans living in the Philippines were allotted $9,000 each.
Over 41,000 veterans’ claims were filed under the one-time payment program created by Congress in 2009. Of those cases, only 12,600 were found eligible for benefits amid multiple complaints that the official compiled roster of soldiers who fought in the war was incomplete.
“Filipino veterans made huge sacrifices for America during World War II. They fought side by side with US troops and put their lives on the line, to preserve and protect our democracy,” Meng added. “We must immediately right this wrong and provide Filipino veterans with the benefits that they have been owed for far too long. That is why I am sponsoring this important bill, and I urge all my colleagues in both chambers to pass this legislation as soon as possible.”
(With reports from Dymphna Calica-La Putt/AJPress and Las Vegas Review-Journal)
(www.asianjournal.com)
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