Honor Promises, However Late

They served with honor, dignity and respect. Yet more than 50 years later, the United States is yet to fulfill its moral obligation to provide benefits to the Filipinos who fought alongside American soldiers during World War II. The nation broke its promises. It is time to make amends.

About 200,000 Filipino soldiers came under U.S. military command in 1941 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order drafting the entire armed forces of the Philippines, then a U.S. protectorate. They fought the Japanese under Gen. Douglas MacArthur in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, including Corregidor and Bataan.

The soldiers were initially promised full military benefits and U.S. citizenship, but Congress reneged on those pledges in 1946 when the Philippines was given independence. Congress granted them citizenship rights in the 1990 immigration law but has failed to deal with the broken promise of GI benefits, from home loans to medical care. To draw attention to the plight of the estimated 70,000 surviving Filipino veterans, a group of them has been staging a sit-in protest at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles since last weekend.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has tried for the last 10 years to muster support to establish the benefits, which would cost an estimated $700 million annually, diminishing over time. Reps. Bob Filner (D-San Diego) and Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) have introduced legislation in the House to do the same. Despite the clear moral justification for such legislation, Washington is ducking the issue because new federal expenditures require offsets to avoid expanding the deficit. Neither political party has been willing to come up with a way to pay the benefits. They ought to apply some bipartisan spirit on behalf of Filipinos who fought for American interests. Thousands of these soldiers endured the Bataan death march and years of captivity.

Congress should at least hold hearings to illuminate the unkept promises and their effects on the lives of these aging former soldiers. If more Americans--including members of Congress--understood the issue, they surely would make haste to grant the Filipino veterans what they are due. This is about national honor.