(Following is the transcript of the segment "Analysis by Winnie Monsod" which aired on News on Q on Feb. 21, 2009. Prof. Winnie Monsod is the resident analyst of News on Q, which airs weeknights at 9:30 p.m. on Q Channel 11.)
Finally, after 63 years of waiting, the services of Filipino veterans who were conscripted by United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve in the U.S. Army in 1941, are going to be recognized by the U.S. government.
As part of the U.S. Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $198 million has been allocated to give these veterans, whose average age is 85 years old, a one-time payment of $15,000 if they are U.S. citizens, and $9000 if they are not... MEANING NON-US CITIZENS WILL GET ONLY 60% OF WHAT U.S. CITIZENS WOULD BE GETTING.
ALSO, to benefit from this bill, you have to be alive, and you better die very soon, because it is only a one-time payment.
That is just the latest indignity in the mountain of indignities that have been heaped on our soldiers who risked life and limb to protect and defend the United States of America.
Hear their story and weep.
It begins on July 26, 1941, when President Roosevelt, faced with the reality of less than 32,000 regular U.S. troops trying to defend themselves against a 500,000- soldier Japanese occupation force, issued a military order inducting members of the entire Commonwealth Army of the Philippines into U.S. military service, making them members of the U.S. Armed Forces in the FAR East or the USAFFE.
In 1942, the U.S. Attorney General recognized officially that the Filipino soldiers inducted into the U.S. military service by Roosevelt were "in active service in the land and naval forces of the United States."
In 1944, under the GI Bill of Rights, these Filipino military personnel were included in consideration for benefits, confirming their veterans status.
In 1945, the Federal Bureau of Veterans Affairs stated that these personnel were eligible for U.S. veterans benefits, thus reconfirming their veterans status.
But then, on Feb. 18, 1946, in an act that U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye described variously as shameful and disgraceful, a betrayal of the Filipino people and a blight on the character of the United States, President Harry Truman signed the Rescission Act of 1946.
This act stripped, cancelled, rendered null and void, the U.S. veterans status of our Filipinos.
What made it even more painful was that the Philippines was the only country of 66 countries with nationals stripped of U.S. veteran status.
The kicker, the supreme irony in all this is that the U.S. subsequently offered a one-time package of $200 million to the Philippines, to divide among the Filipino veterans, in exchange for the cancellation of all possible future claims on the U.S. government by the Veterans.
The Philippines turned down the offer that was sometime in 1947.
Now, 63 years later, the Philippines has been given a $198 million one-time package... LOWER THAN THE ORIGINAL OFFER OF $200 MILLION PACKAGE, WHICH IS WORTH ABOUT $2.1 BILLION NOW.
It is a pale ghost of the original versions of veterans' benefits enhancement acts authored by Senator Inouye.
The original versions restored full veteran status to Filipino veterans of WWII who lost this status under the Rescission Act of 1946.
The total value of the original version was estimated between $50 and $100 million annually.
In sum, the Filipino veterans of WWII who served the United States when the United States needed it most, are expected to be grateful for this $198 million one-time package rather than BEING GIVEN the $100 million a year package that they in all fairness deserve.
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL not give it to them, because they are too busy spending $435 million a day, which is the estimated cost of prosecuting the Iraq war.
With friends like the United States government, the Filipinos need no enemies.
Finally, after 63 years of waiting, the services of Filipino veterans who were conscripted by United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve in the U.S. Army in 1941, are going to be recognized by the U.S. government.
As part of the U.S. Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $198 million has been allocated to give these veterans, whose average age is 85 years old, a one-time payment of $15,000 if they are U.S. citizens, and $9000 if they are not... MEANING NON-US CITIZENS WILL GET ONLY 60% OF WHAT U.S. CITIZENS WOULD BE GETTING.
ALSO, to benefit from this bill, you have to be alive, and you better die very soon, because it is only a one-time payment.
That is just the latest indignity in the mountain of indignities that have been heaped on our soldiers who risked life and limb to protect and defend the United States of America.
Hear their story and weep.
It begins on July 26, 1941, when President Roosevelt, faced with the reality of less than 32,000 regular U.S. troops trying to defend themselves against a 500,000- soldier Japanese occupation force, issued a military order inducting members of the entire Commonwealth Army of the Philippines into U.S. military service, making them members of the U.S. Armed Forces in the FAR East or the USAFFE.
In 1942, the U.S. Attorney General recognized officially that the Filipino soldiers inducted into the U.S. military service by Roosevelt were "in active service in the land and naval forces of the United States."
In 1944, under the GI Bill of Rights, these Filipino military personnel were included in consideration for benefits, confirming their veterans status.
In 1945, the Federal Bureau of Veterans Affairs stated that these personnel were eligible for U.S. veterans benefits, thus reconfirming their veterans status.
But then, on Feb. 18, 1946, in an act that U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye described variously as shameful and disgraceful, a betrayal of the Filipino people and a blight on the character of the United States, President Harry Truman signed the Rescission Act of 1946.
This act stripped, cancelled, rendered null and void, the U.S. veterans status of our Filipinos.
What made it even more painful was that the Philippines was the only country of 66 countries with nationals stripped of U.S. veteran status.
The kicker, the supreme irony in all this is that the U.S. subsequently offered a one-time package of $200 million to the Philippines, to divide among the Filipino veterans, in exchange for the cancellation of all possible future claims on the U.S. government by the Veterans.
The Philippines turned down the offer that was sometime in 1947.
Now, 63 years later, the Philippines has been given a $198 million one-time package... LOWER THAN THE ORIGINAL OFFER OF $200 MILLION PACKAGE, WHICH IS WORTH ABOUT $2.1 BILLION NOW.
It is a pale ghost of the original versions of veterans' benefits enhancement acts authored by Senator Inouye.
The original versions restored full veteran status to Filipino veterans of WWII who lost this status under the Rescission Act of 1946.
The total value of the original version was estimated between $50 and $100 million annually.
In sum, the Filipino veterans of WWII who served the United States when the United States needed it most, are expected to be grateful for this $198 million one-time package rather than BEING GIVEN the $100 million a year package that they in all fairness deserve.
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL not give it to them, because they are too busy spending $435 million a day, which is the estimated cost of prosecuting the Iraq war.
With friends like the United States government, the Filipinos need no enemies.
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