Pacquiao's wish

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THE FERVENT wish of Manny Pacquiao, expressed simply just after his stunning victory over Mexican champion Erik Morales in Las Vegas on January 21, was: "Sana magkaintindihan na po tayong lahat."

While his words literally mean "I hope we all will understand each other," colloquially, as Manila newspapers noted, it means "I hope we'll all finally end our differences."

Pacquiao's wish may finally happen at least on the issue of the Filipino Veterans Equity Bill now pending in the US Congress.

It may surprise many to learn that there were differences in the battle for the equity bill but there were and they centered on the amount of "full benefits" that the veterans should receive.

For some, "full benefits" for veterans meant that the Filipino veterans should receive $800 a month, the average amount that US veterans in the US receive as their military pension. This was the amount stated in HR 302, the "Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2005," sponsored in 2005 by Rep. Randy Cunningham, together with Representative Bob Filner, which sought "to deem certain service in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the Philippine Scouts to have been active service for purposes of benefits under programs administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs."

According to the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate based on a figure of 18,000 veterans in the Philippines and 6,000 US-based vets, the Cunningham-Filner bill would cost about $159M a year.

For others, however, "full benefits" should be viewed in the context of the conditions where they are received. Representative Juanita Millender-MacDonald (D- Los Angeles), together with Representative Darrell Issa (R-Los Angeles), sponsored HR 170 ("The Filipino Fairness Act") which sought to improve benefits for Filipino veterans of World War II by providing $800 a month for the 5,000 Filipino WW II veterans in the US and $100 a month for the 18,000 Filipino veterans in the Philippines. Total price: $22M a year.

Supporters of the MacDonald-Issa Bill argued that it would be highly unrealistic to expect the Republican Congress to pass a bill that will cost US taxpayers $159M a year when the US has a major budget deficit caused by the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq War. It would be better to fight for 5,000 pesos a month which could be obtained rather than for 40,000 pesos a month that could never be gotten (a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush). Besides, they argued, living on $800 a month in the US was about equivalent in hardship to living on 5,000 pesos a month in the Philippines.

Those supporting the Cunningham-Filner Bill, on the other hand, argue that "Equity means equity. You cannot oppose inequity by supporting another inequity. Why should there be a difference between what Filipino veterans in the US receive and what Filipino veterans in the Philippines receive? That's discrimination!"

It was a fight of Pacquiao-Morales proportions. "In this corner, weighing $159M a year, is the 'all or nothing' boxer. In the other corner, weighing $22M a year, is the 'fight for what we can get' slugger."

Unfortunately, this issue was only of interest to Filipinos as it hardly entered the radar screen of the Republican majority. Of the 198 sponsors of HR 677 (HR 302's predecessor) in 2004, 179 were Democrats and only 19 were Republicans. Adding a major obstacle to HR 302's success was House Speaker Dennis Hastert announcement last year that only bills supported by a majority of Republicans would be allowed to go to a floor vote.

Add another problem: the 19 Republicans supporting the veterans equity bill was reduced by one last month, the most important one at that. Its main Republican sponsor, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-California), was forced to resign in December after he was indicted for receiving $2M from a special interest lobbyist.

Fortunately, two weeks after Cunningham's resignation, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) stepped into the breach and came forward to sponsor the new Filipino Veterans Equity Bill now known as HR 4574.

While Issa is still a co-sponsor of the MacDonald-Issa Bill, he sees room for compromise as all the veterans' support groups backed the budget proposal of Rep. Lane Evans (D-Illinois) which he introduced last year for $22M to be included in the federal budget for Filipino veterans equity.

The compromise of $22M a year, it is now proposed, would be based on the allocation of $200 a month for ALL Filipino WW II veterans, regardless of whether they are in the US or in the Philippines. There would thus be no discrimination between the two groups.

In addition to the $200 a month in pension benefits, the 5,000 Filipino WW II veterans in the US would still be eligible to apply for and to receive $600 a month in SSI benefits, which is not a military benefit and is based solely on income and residence in the US. In California, Filipino veterans would be entitled to an additional $200 a month in state assistance.

The "magkaintindihan" that Pacquiao wished for may finally be at hand for the Filipino veterans whose average age is about 85 years old (if they were 20 when the war began in 1941). Because of their advanced age, their death rate is exponentially high and any further delay would be unmercifully cruel.

The 60th anniversary of the nefarious Rescission Act which created the inequity problem by specifically declaring that military service in the Philippines under the US during WW II was not military service in the armed forces of the United States for purposes of military benefits will be marked on February 18, 2006.

Two days after this anniversary, on February 20, 2006, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington DC. On behalf of the Filipino veterans, she must press Bush to back the Filipino veterans equity bill and President Bush must get his Republican majority to back the bill. This is the year that the inequity must end.

Pass the Filipino Veterans Equity Act now!

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