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Filipino vets deserve benefits
they were promised

THE ISSUE Senator Inouye has introduced a bill to provide full veterans benefits for Filipinos drafted to military service in World War II.

TIME is running out for Congress to finally make good on its promise of veterans benefits to Filipinos who were drafted in 1941 to serve alongside U.S. soldiers in defending the Philippines during World War II. The 63rd anniversary of the Bataan Death March is a reminder that President Franklin D. Roosevelt's pledge to provide benefits to those 120,000 brave soldiers still has not been fully kept. A bill sponsored by Senator Inouye would fulfill that pledge.

About 16,000 of the 70,000 American and Filipino soldiers died during the 63-mile march that began on April 9, 1942, to a prisoner of war camp. Survivors were honored at various ceremonies last weekend. Full respect, in the form of veterans benefits, continues to be denied them, even though the Philippines were an American commonwealth from 1934 through the end of the war.

Congress rescinded Roosevelt's promise in 1946 when the Philippines gained independence. Not until 1990 did Congress allow Filipino veterans to emigrate to the United States and become U.S. citizens. That law, authored by Inouye, brought nearly 25,000 to the United States, including 3,000 to Hawaii. A decade later, Congress provided access to health care and burial services for Fili-pinos who served directly in the U.S. armed forces.

Two years ago, President Bush signed a bill providing Filipino veterans living in the United States with the same federal health care given to American veterans. Inouye's current bill would give full benefits to Filipino veterans living in America or the Philippines.

Filipino World War II veterans are estimated to number 58,000, including 12,000 in the United States. Most of them are in their 70s and 80s, and their number is expected to be reduced by half during the next five years.

"It's not, for us, just a matter of the survivor benefits or the pensions," said Christopher Punongbayan, a member of the National Network for Veterans Equity. "It's a matter of justice and dignity and respect and honor."

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., sponsor of the House version of the Inouye bill, is not optimistic. In the last Congress, the bill stalled in the House Veterans Affairs Committee because of budget constraints. The bill would cost about $100 million to $150 million a year over 10 years.

"These things were promised to them, and our government then basically came back and said, 'Not so fast.'" Cunningham said. "A promise made should be a promise kept."

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