World War II Filipino Veterans Benefits: Filipino Veterans of World War II were inducted into the US Army and served in one of the worst theaters of war, including the Bataan Death March. They have been denied VA benefits for more than 60 years. This injustice must be reversed.


Filipino WWII Veterans Background

U.S. Congressional bills seek to provide equity
H.R. 760 introduced by Democrat Bob Filner in the House, and S.B. 57 introduced by Sen. Daniel Inouye, will amend the Rescission Act of 1946, which stripped Filipino soldiers drafted into U.S. military service in the Philippines during WW II of their U.S. veteran status.

The Rescission Act of 1946 which stated that the service of these Filipino soldiers "shall not be deemed to be or to have been service in the military or naval forces of the United States" will simply be corrected by both measures by making this service "deemed to be active service" in the U.S. military.

Passage of both bills will mean official recognition of Filipino veterans as American veterans; they will thus be eligible for veterans benefits such as: health care, disability compensation, pension, burial, housing loans, education, and vocational rehabilitation. Both HR. 750 and S. 57 are bipartisan bills, with support from Democrats and Republicans. Previous legislation to partially restore some benefits fall short of equity and justice.

The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that have provided partial benefits to Filipino WW II veterans that include: allowing veterans repatriating to the Philippines to bring 75% of their SSI monthly benefit if they were already SSI recipients as of December 14, 1999; providing V A health care and burial benefits including permission to apply to be buried at the Arlington National Cemetery to veterans residing in the U.S.; ending the 50 cents on the dollar calculation for disability compensation benefits being received by some veterans and their spouses residing in the U.S.

These pieces of legislation introduce a division between veterans who have been able to come to the U.S. and are residing here and the veterans residing the Philippines who are not eligible for these partial benefits because they are not U.S. residents. Organizations for veterans residing in the Philippines such as the Veterans Federation of the Philippines have criticized this divisive designation.

Partial restoration of benefits do not address the foremost issues of honor tarnished, dignity stripped, and status denied which resulted from the provisions of the Rescission Act of 1946. H.R. 302's and S.B. 146's amendment to that Act is the only vehicle that will lead to justice through full restoration of U.S. veteran status and eligibility for benefits. Legislation that falls short of restoration of status in fact only serves to promote the mistaken notion that the struggle for equity is about greed for "stateside benefits" rather than for honor, justice, and equal treatment. Equity for Filipino veterans corrects the legal, historical, and moral violation of recognized and practiced rules on U.S. military service.

Filipino soldiers during WW II became veterans of the U.S. military because on July 26, 1941, President Roosevelt issued a military order inducting members of the entire Commonwealth Army of the Philippines into U.S. military service, placing them under the command of a general officer of the U.S. army to be designated by the Secretary of War, and making them members of the VSAFFE. Other outfits affected by Roosevelt's order were the Philippine Scouts ("Old" and "New"), and the guerrilla forces which were organized to resist the Japanese occupation after the USAFFE's surrender to Japan in May 1942. Prior to the enactment of the Rescission act of 1946, the status of the Filipino soldiers was recognized to be U.S. servicemen. In April 1942, the U.S. Attorney General recognized that the Filipino soldiers ordered in 1941 into U.S. military service by President Roosevelt were "in active service in the land and naval forces of the United States".

For their service, these Filipino military personnel were at first included inconsideration for benefits under the 1944 GI Bill of Rights. This law required active service in the armed forces of the U.S. to become eligible for veterans benefits.

The Filipino soldiers were covered by the Second War Powers Act which provided special immigration and naturalization benefits for non-U.S. citizen members of the U.S. military. Its implementation in the Philippines in 1945-1946 made access by the Filipino soldiers to the designated U.S. immigration officer extremely limited, making it impossible to avail of the benefit.

U.S. veteran status for the Filipinos in the U.S. military service was reconfirmed in September 1945 by the Federal Bureau of Veterans Affairs which stated that they were eligible for U.S. veterans benefits.

In a sense, the Filipino fighters were unfairly tricked in that the U.S. accepted the benefit from their efforts against the Japanese but once Japan was defeated, they were denied recognition of their service. This injustice would be corrected through H.R. 302 and S.B. 146's restoration of U.S. veteran status to the Filipino soldiers covered by President Roosevelt's military order.

Support for HR. 760 & S. 57 recognizes the role Filipino soldiers played in WW II and the sacrifices they made for the U.S.

Lt. Col. Edwin Ramsey, a retired U.S. Army officer provided at a 1998 Congressional hearing on Filipino veterans an analysis of how Japan came to occupy the Philippines, "had we not been in the war, and were that not a territory of the United States, the Philippines may not have been attacked, because the Japanese were not looking for other places to stir up trouble and it wasn't a major source of raw materials such as it was in Indonesia." In other words, Filipinos suffered from Japanese occupation because of U.S. hold on the Philippines. Furthermore, the U.S. relied primarily on Filipino soldiers inducted into the U.S. military to resist the Japanese occupying forces.

The role of the Filipino military personnel in the USAFFE has been lauded as heroic and substantial in enabling the U.S. to succeed in its war effort. When war broke out, there were less than 32,000 regular U.S. troops in the Philippines. The induction of Filipinos into the U.S. service added at least 120,000 troops who then faced the almost 500,000 occupying Japanese forces.

Congresswoman Pelosi, at that 1998 Congressional hearing on Filipino veterans, echoed historians' assessments that the defeat of the Japanese military in the Philippines was the start of the demise of Japan in the war. The courageous efforts of the Filipino soldiers, scouts, and guerrillas were instrumental in that success.

The estimated number of Filipinos killed in this war by both Japanese and American attacks is over 1 million and the estimated cost of the physical damage at 1950 prices is $5.8 billion. The Equity Bill is a step in the right direction to ending the second class status treatment of Filipino veterans.

Non-U.S. citizen veterans of the U.S. military came from 66 countries, yet only those from the Philippines were stripped of their U.S. veteran status. The Filipinos' colonial subject status worked against the Filipino soldiers, making it quite easy for the U.S. Congress to act with impunity in denying recognition of their honorable and courageous service.