[ OUR OPINION ]
Bush support should
prompt Filipino benefitsTHOUSANDS of Filipinos who fought under U.S. command during World War II have been unfairly denied U.S. veterans benefits. President Bush has declared his support for legislation that would at long last correct that injustice to Filipino veterans living in the United States. Congress should wait no longer in recognizing the debt owed to Filipinos who were called upon to serve in that war effort.
THE ISSUE President Bush has endorsed legislation to provide full benefits to Filipino World War II veterans living in the United States.
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo urged the administration's backing of the legislation during her visit to Washington last October, and Bush announced his commitment to such a bill during her state visit to the White House this week. The legislation died in last year's Congress because of disagreement within the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, but it has attracted general support.
The Philippines were an American commonwealth during World War II, and a 1941 proclamation by President Franklin D. Roosevelt essentially drafted more than 120,000 Filipino soldiers to units under U.S. command.
They served in the Philippines Scouts, the Commonwealth Army and guerrilla units. Congress declared them ineligible for U.S. veterans benefits at the war's conclusion. The Filipinos served alongside U.S. soldiers in such epic battles as Bataan and Corregidor.
Under a law authored by Senator Inouye, Congress granted U.S. citizenship to Filipino veterans in 1990, bringing nearly 25,000 to the United States, including 3,000 to Hawaii. Those living in the United States now are estimated at 11,000.
Three years ago, Congress provided health care and burial services for Filipinos who served directly in the U.S. armed forces, but VA health care was provided only to Commonwealth Army veterans for war-related disabilities. Hawaii's congressional delegation has supported full benefits for those veterans over the years.
President Clinton asked Veterans Affairs officials to study options for helping the veterans. Bush this week endorsed legislation that would provide full disability compensation for service-connected disabilities, and eligibility for burial at national cemeteries for New Scouts -- those whom Congress ordered sent to occupy enemy lands in 1945. He also supported comprehensive health care, a crucial need for the aging veterans, for Commonwealth Army veterans and New Scouts. In addition, Bush endorsed full dependence and indemnity compensation for all survivors of the veterans.
Inouye, a longtime proponent of increasing benefits for Filipino veterans in the United States, has called their treatment "bleak and shameful." President Bush's support should prompt Congress finally to provide benefits that it wrongfully has withheld for nearly 60 years.
