PASS H.R. 677, Filipino WWII Veterans Equity Act
September is a critical month for H.R. 677! Currently there are 188 co-sponsors of H.R. 677. The passage of the Filipino WWII Veterans Equity Act is dependent on the action our community makes! Let's make history or rather change history.... Please e-mail, call, fax, write your local representative now! Attached are 'Talking Points' and a list of all the representatives that are not signed on to the bill.
Please visit www.fullequitynow.com for additional lobbying materials and information on the Full Equity campaign.
Contact: Angela Angel
National Network for Veterans Equity
Student Action for Veterans Equity
Frank
LoBiondo, 2nd
Republican
Jim
Saxton, 1st
Republican
Christopher
Smith, 4th
Republican
Scott
Garrett, 5th
Republican
Michael
Ferguson, 7th
Republican
Rodney
Frelinghuysen, 11th
Republican
Steve
Israel, 2nd
Democrat
Peter
King, 3rd
Republican
Vito
Fossella, 13th
Republican
Sue
Kelly, 19th
Republican
John
Sweeney, 20th
Republican
John
McHugh, 23rd
Republican
Sherwood
Boehlert, 24th
Republican
James
Walsh, 25th
Republican
Thomas
Reynolds 26th
Republican
Jack
Quinn 27th
Republican
Amory
Houghton 29th
Republican
Philip
English 3rd
Republican
Melissa
Hart 4th
Republican
John
Peterson 5th
Republican
Jim
Gerlach 6th
Republican
Curt
Weldon 7th
Republican
Bill
Shuster 9th
Republican
Don
Sherwood 10th
Republican
Pat
Toomey 15th
Republican
Joseph
Pitts 16th
Republican
Timothy
Murphy 18th
Republican
Todd
Platts 19th
Republican
NNVE TALKING
POINTS/MESSAGES
Filipino WWII Veterans
fought under the Armed Forces of the United States
The
On
Filipino Soldiers fought under the American Flag
and under the direction and control of the
Filipino WWII Veterans
Jointly fought with the American Soldiers
Filipino veterans fought side by side with the
Americans against the Japanese
Many Filipino veterans risk their lives
defending the freedom and democracy we now enjoy
Filipino veterans served in the epic Battles of Bataan & Corregidor and
suffered the horrors of Death March with the American soldiers
Filipino veterans were left fighting &
defending great human freedoms even after MacArthur
was forced to withdraw its forces
Rescission Act of 1946
Unjustly Discriminates Against the Filipino WWII Veterans
After the war in February 1946, US Congress
passed the 1946 Rescission Act with the provision depriving the Filipino
veterans the benefits of the US veterans by declaring that the Filipino
military service “should not be deemed to be US
military service for purpose of the benefits
VA officials considered Filipino military
service as US veterans until passage of this Rescission Act
Only the Filipino veterans were denied full US
veterans status
Soldiers of more than 66 US allied countries
during WWII were granted
Filipino soldiers
deserves EQUITY and JUSTICE Now!
The Filipino veterans are now in their late
seventies and eighties still awaiting for equity
Filipino veterans deserves recognitions and
their honor and dignity restored
Filipino veterans must be recognized for their
gallantry, loyalty and sacrifices in defending freedom and democracy we now
fully enjoy
Filipino veterans fought with patriotism and
bravery under the American flag, risked their lives, made sacrifices during WWII
to preserve continued blessings of peace, freedom & democracy
HR 677 Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2003 is
now pending in the House will restore full
HR 677 must be passed
for the Filipino veterans to achieve their EQUITY and to correct the injustice
and discrimination resulting from the Rescission Act
Let me share it with you
Justice
to the Filipino Veterans...Washington consumed by the
by George F Will who I think is the best political writer of my time. His
wit and style of presenting human story has fascinated me and because this one
is close to our cause we should read it. I just hope that he could
convince others not only the compassion but it is the right thing to do.
He joined guerrilla forces and fought with World War I-vintage
The question is whether
Their advocate is Rep. Bob Filner, a Democrat who grew up in
The 2 million Filipino Americans comprise the nation's second largest
Asian community. There are approximately 96,000 of them in
Filner's legislation would give pensions and health care benefits to
those veterans and their families, about a quarter of whom
are
The World War II generation is dying off, so the potential cost of
according them increased entitlements is declining about 18 percent a year. In
another decade mortality will have made the issue moot. Meanwhile, Congress is
increasingly composed of people with no military experience, and for whom even
In 1946 Congress appropriated $200 million for Filipino armed forces.
Today about 13,000 Filipino veterans of certain units or their survivors get
about $55 million a year in
Filner says that number has been inflated by making assumptions
designed to maximize potential costs, and anyway he is panting to compromise
because, for the veterans, the issue really is not money. The goal of the
septuagenarian and octogenarian veterans -- some of whom recently picketed the White
House wearing faded uniforms and sparkling medals -- is public attestation of
their service. That makes this one more episode that proves the poverty of
materialism as the sovereign explanation of political action.
The quest for intangibles such as honor and prestige drives the
behavior of nations more than many so-called "realists" recognize.
And the yearning for recognition -- a revolt against mere money as the measure
of all things -- goes far to explain the moral energy of the civil rights
movement. More recent and less admirable examples of contested recognitions are
the curriculum wars on campuses, particularly the campaigns to treat the
teaching of history as reparation, conferring status by emphasizing the
importance of individuals, groups and events not hitherto considered
consequential.
The fact that such history often involves bestowing bogus significance
does not discredit all "recognition politics." The Filipino veterans'
cause has come to a brief boil on the 100th anniversary of
Nestor Palugod Enriquez