by Echo Park Communtiy Coalition
Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009 at 8:02 PM epcc_la@hotmail.com 213-241-0995 1740 W. Temple St. Los Angeles, CA 90026
A certain lawyer from San Francisco wrote his own version of the 63 years Filipino veterans struggle for equity and justice.
Patterned after the waves in the history of Filipino migration to the United States, he ended the history with a glorious victory for the lump sum and so-called recognition and he called it“ the rescinding of the rescission act.”
Like a typical American historian/academician he tried to simplify it in “ five different and distinct phases”
On The History of the Filipino Veterans Equity Struggle.
A certain lawyer from San Francisco wrote his own version of the 63 years Filipino veterans struggle for equity and justice.
Patterned after the waves in the history of Filipino migration to the United States, he ended the history with a glorious victory for the lump sum and so-called recognition and he called it“ the rescinding of the rescission act.”
Like a typical American historian/academician he tried to simplify it in “ five different and distinct phases”
Absolving the Philippine Government
On his first phase, he readily absolved the Philippine government for not having a lobbying capacity or will to prevent the US government in passing the rescission act.
He readily forgot that the Philippine functionaries have a long history of lobbying in the US Congress for Philippine Independence ever since. History shows that politicians like Quezon, Osmena, Roxas and a host of others made their careers lobbying the US Congress for independence. How can he say the Philippine government has no capacity to lobby?
The truth of the matter is that The Philippine government has no will in preventing the passing of the rescission act. The Philippine lobbyist at the time sugar baron, Elizalde was busy at that time lobbying for the sugar quota than to watch over the discussions of the rescission act of 1946.
In fact, Carlos P. Romulo only spoke about the Rescission act in May 1946, three months after the act was passed.
On his second phase, from 1946-1965- again he failed to mention that the US government purposely and deliberately closed the US Embassy and the VA office in Manila so that the Filipino veterans cannot apply for citizenship.
Instead he just mentioned that there is a relaxation in the immigration law. This period was the influx of Filipinos to the United States.
Cover Up and Misrepresentation of the Equity issue
He failed to mention the fact the Philippine government hid the Rescission Act of 1946 in collusion with the US government. They (both the RP and the US governments) misrepresented the issue to the veterans as the issue of “back pay” and not equity.
Just as they misrepresented the Huk rebellion of 1948-54 as a conflict based on “unpaid back pay” the issue of equity and the fact that the Filipino veterans were not recognized as American veterans were not discussed publicly.
This is why for along time people do not know the issue of equity and it took a long time for people to know the fact that the Filipinos veterans were discriminated against by the Rescission Act,
Mr. Rodis and other historians conveniently forget that the Filipino veterans struggled for 63 years. That we owe it to Ambassador Nick Jimenez, Peping Baclig, Pat Ganio, Juan Salcedo, Greg Bayani and the countless and nameless others who individually and organizationally started to question why they are not treated as American veterans.
They researched, formed organizations, filed cases in courts and started the movement gradually until it took off from the ground in 1984.
Only in 1993, when the veterans held their first political demonstration in Los Angeles in 1993, that the veterans struggle came in the fore in American politics. But these facts he failed to mention.
Making up a third phase, He mentioned different cases of veterans that were filed in court after 1965. And as usual he ended this case in the courts. To make invisible the efforts of other veterans to fight for their rights.
His fourth phase was the battle of the veterans in the US Congress and the lobby. He deliberately omitted the struggle of the grass root veterans organizations since 1984 in the different areas like Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC.
Minimizing the Grassroots Efforts
He attributed the victory of what he called the final and fifth phase of the struggle to legislative “champions” like Senator Inouye and Filner in 2009. He terribly minimized the decisive role of the community and the veterans themselves.
In calling the victory as rescinding the rescission act, he mentions that the military service of the veterans was recognized as a military service without mentioning the fact that they were “recognized only for the purposes of that law”.
Not a tacit recognition but only an implied recognition. In short, a pa CONSUELO DE BOBO!
He conveniently forgets that in September 22, 2008 Filipino veterans were excluded in SB 1315. We call it the second Rescission Act when the lower house of Congress removed the Filipino section after passing unanimously in the Senate in April.
How can he and other organizations like ACFV and NAFFAA accept the lump sum as a “compensation for sufferings” with a release or a quit claim that will affect future benefits and tell the Filipino veterans and the community to accept his crumbs?
How can they forget the widows who were left out of the lump sum provisions?
The problem we see is that some people equate the veterans struggle as purely legal and personal struggle of Esclamados and other persons or organizations like NAFFAA and ACFV who claim authority over it.
To them getting $ 15,000 lump sum is the end all. We believe that this is not enough and a terrible insult to our national pride.
We in the Filipino American community in the United States and many Filipinos in the homeland says no to lump sum without recognition and can never accept their version of the history of the veterans struggle which he ended with a lump sum.
They cannot absolve the puppet Philippine government and the US politicians for their sin of not fighting for Filipino veterans rights for too long and now claiming the glory of their victories though not full equity but a lump sum.
As Philippine Senator Joker Arroyo called the lump sum victory: “too little, too late.”
We in the community will continue to correct historical wrongs and we will start by correcting the historical lies being peddled by some historians who never really know their history.
