CLAIMS DELAYED, JUSTICE DENIED (tags)
About 18,000 veterans are projected to be filing pension claims under the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund, but a website shows nearly double that number -- or 32,795 applications -- have been received by the Manila Regional Office of the US Department of Veterans Affairs as of October 1, 2009. This could indicate, according to analysts, that there may be spurious or incomplete claims being filed, or that some veterans may be submitting duplicate claims. And these could be slowing down the application process.
LUMP SUM IS NOT RECOGNITION. MUCH LESS EQUITY (tags)
This letter is in response to the column by Mr. Rodel Rodis that appeared in Philippines Today, Filam Star and Philippine News, and another by Senator Leland Yee in Manila Mail in the March 4-10 newspaper issue. Both writers much like leaders of the mendicant Philippine government herald the passage of the lump sum as a victory for the veterans in that their war service is now recognized, and that they finally got the benefits they deserve and fought for, for the last 63 years. Just what kind of recognition and victory did the veterans get? The word “recognition” in the text of the Section 1002 of the stimulus bill signed into law by President Barack Obama pertains exclusively for the purpose of issuing the lump sum. As soon as lump sum is issued, the recognition shall immediately disappear. Notice how the text was very clear in saying that the lump sum was a “compensation for human suffering.”— not a recognition of wartime heroism and valor. If the intention of this provision is to tax-exempt, then just say the lump sum is non-taxable, but without a condescending term as “human suffering.”
Filipino hotel workers, among Long Beach’s poorest (tags)
Filipino couple Rogelio and Wilhemina de Vera, both 72 years old, who live in the “Cambodian projects” on Cherry Street, belong to the approximately 90,000 or almost 20 percent, of Long Beach residents who live under the federal poverty line. Half a million Filipinos make Long Beach or LA County—which ranks sixth in the nation for concentration of poverty—their home. “I am living paycheck to paycheck which is very hard because I still support some of my relatives back home,” Rogelio, a service van driver at a five-star Long Beach hotel, told Philippine News. “So I really appreciate that some organizations are helping me and my family
ACTIVIST CONTINUE PROTESTS THROUGHOUT CHRISTMAS (tags)
Activists here continue their unrelenting advocacy in support of various causes and in protest of other issues even as the community savors Christmas and the advent of a new year. The Filipino Veterans Support Bill, or SB 3689, remains as the foremost concern of the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV). Despite failing energy, living FilVets stay active on the road, making their presence felt in mass actions and community gatherings, and taking the opportunity to speak their minds. On December 8, JFAV announced the formation of a partner organization, the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (Aware) at a meeting held at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) here. In San Francisco, FilVets Gomer Bondad and Reggie Nacua, with activists Ago Pedalizo and Violy Reyes, discussed the seemingly unresolved impasse on the lump sum clause of SB 36879, now pending in the US Congress, at a community meeting held at the ABS-CBN studio in Redwood City last December 10
US slashes AFP aid to RP, cites corruption, killings (tags)
he United States has slashed its development and military assistance to the Philippines from $116.6 million in 2008 to $99.2 million in 2009, citing corruption and extra-judicial killings as reasons, a report yesterday said. In its 2009 congressional budget justification report for East Asia and the Pacific, the State Department said the aid for the Philippines “represents an overall decrease from the FY 2008 level.”
Top 10 stories for Filipino Americans in 2007 (tags)
Filipino Americans can look back on 2007 with both elation and embarrassment.FilAms figured prominently in mainstream media news, headlining topics such as the 9/11 health crisis, boxing, TV entertainment as well as espionage in high places.
SPLITS ROCK COUPLES FOR CHRIST/GAWAD KALINGA(GK) (tags)
he Couples for Christ (CFC) , one of the biggest Catholic lay organization with membership in 160 countries announced it has spit into two with the largest segment remaining as CFC, the Philippine News reported today. Until the release of the letter dated August 16, the internal dissension was kept under wraps. The CFC was established in 1981. The CFC started the Gawad Kalinga (GK) program that seeks to build 777, 000 housing units for the “poorest of the poor” in the Philippines.
Self-educated at the Los Angeles Public Library in the Thirties, Carlos Bulosan, the militant Filipino writer and labor activist, died on September 11, 1956. His death anniversary last month provided the occasion for the Filipino community to celebrate his contribution to the revolutionary struggle of peoples everywhere for justice, dignity, and self-determination. Bulosan was part of the community of progressive Los Angeles-based intellectuals (Carey McWilliams, Sanora Babb, Louis Adamic, Ring Lardner Jr. and others) victimized by McCarthyism and fascist reaction. His example of resistance continues to inspire people of color everywhere.