Appeal for Executive Order for Full Recognition of Filipino WW II Veterans (tags)
“Everybody should play by the same rule.” Mr. President, we appeal to you for Executive Order for Full Recognition of Filipino WW II V... eterans . We are the Filipino WW II veterans and their widows who have defended this nation and decisively won a war to keep Americans safe. Yet, to this day we have to fight for the basic right of full recognition of our US military service. This year, the US Congress due to direct opposition of the Republican leadership has failed to approve an equity bill that would have reversed chronic injustice and racial discrimination. We appeal that as we bring the fight to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on November 5, 2012 , that you issue an Executive Order to provide full recognition to the Filipino WW II veterans as full American veterans.
Filipino WW II Vets to Sen. Inouye: “We are American veterans, not political beggars.” (tags)
At a national phone conference, 50 Filipino WW II veterans and widows respond publicly to Inouye’s letter and denial of support for full equity of benefits of Filipinos as their American counterparts. “American veterans must be honored completely for their valor and heroism, and must not be pacified by partial benefits and partial recognitions, which in the words of Senator Daniel Inouye are “better than nothing,” says Felino Punsalan, a stenographer and interpreter to an American Commander during the war, and was denied of the lump sum compensation and monthly pensions.
Filipino WW II Vets/Widows Ask for Apology from Obama and US Congress (tags)
A day after the Memorial Day marked by flags and parades, Filipino WW II vets and widows vow to demand a formal public apology from President Barack Obama and the US Congress for 65 years of abandonment, racial discrimination and injustice. ?We deserve full recognition and full compensation. But the wounds of long years of humiliation as second-class American veterans will never completely heal until the US government asks for apology,? says Felino Punsalan, who celebrates 93rd birthday today, without any lump-sum, much less monthly pension, nor any signs that he would be recognized soon as an American veteran. Vets and their families ask California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma to introduce a separate bill demanding for apology. Ma previously sponsored bills supporting HR 210, ?The Filipino Veterans Fairness Act of 2011,? and the inclusion of the Filipino WW vets in the social studies curriculum of schools in California.