AN OPEN LETTER TO SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI

AN OPEN LETTER TO SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI

Speaker Nancy Pelosi
District Office,
450 Golden Gate Ave 14th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102

August 5, 2008

Dear Ms. Speaker,

We are writing to you on the matter of the pending House version of SB 1315 pending at the House of Representatives.

We hold you, as the Speaker and the leader of the Democratic Party, responsible for not passing the bill in the house You have the responsibility to answer why the bill has not been discussed or have not been put into vote despite several promises.

Time is of the essence for these American veterans who were victims of the unjust Recession Act that was passed on February 18th, 1946. Of the 250,000 Filipino soldiers who served under the American Flag during World War II, only 18,000 are still alive with more veterans dying everyday.

For example, in the county of Los Angeles where majority of the Filipino veterans resides, 127 members of the United Filipino American Veterans (UFAV) have died up to October 2007. Only 52 members are still living, more than 10 of them are seriously sick. Yet many of these same Veterans have vowed to continue this 63-year-old fight until their dying breath.

You can help end this injustice or like your predecessors continue to ignore this issue hoping it will go away. If the issue is money, research has found that it will only cost our government as much as half of what we spend on Iraq per day to give these American veterans their benefits.

Time and excuses are running out. We demand that your office and all the members of the House of Representatives to act now and house version of S.B. 1315 now!

Sincerely yours,

Maureen Ivy Quicho, Coordinator
Los Angeles Chapter
GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance

Dr. Annalisa Enrile, National Chairperson
GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance

Rizalino Manuel
Philippine American National Association

Salvador Lledo
President,Association of Filipino Workers

Fr. Rene De Guzman
Catholic Ecumenical Communion

Ernest Tamayo
Secretary-General, KmB-Pro People Youth

Dr. Ben Marte

Johneric Concordia
KmB-Los Angeles

Fe Koons
Deputy Secretary-General, CONFFAA

Rev. Roy Padilla
Rosewood Methodist Church

Aquillina Soriano
Executive Director, PWC-SC

Mo Nishida
Little Tokyo For Peace

Abigail Vivo
Kappa Psi Epsilon

Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal
GEPENC

Muna Coobte
National Council of Arab Americans

Joanne Palomar
UGNAYAN ng mga Anak ng Bayan-New York

Annaliza Cabales
DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association-New York

David Rockello
Vice-President, GEPENC

Melvin Barcenas
Pesante-USA

Arcadio Basat
Echo Park Community Coalition

Jonah de Ocampo (BAMBU)

Cristine De Leon
Fil-Am artist

Rev.Ronald Tan
Carson

Bengele Alysabar
Violinist

Richard Becker
ANSWER-San Francisco

Maria Nocedal
AJLPP-San Francisco

Leah Obias
AJLPP-New York

Laravic Flores

Maj. Jose Samonte, VFP-US

Alejandra Sanchez
People's CORE LEAP

Jane Cutter
ANSWER-Seattle

Greg Villanueva
VFP-LA

Rev. Richard Rubio Bowley

Rev. George Rimando

Rev. Eric Tan Ong-Veloso

Flor Cadiente, FACLA