Fil-Am war vets in US lobby for benefits

HONOLULU (AP) — Dozens of Filipino-American veterans of World War II are lobbying for legislation entitling them to the same benefits as the American soldiers they fought with side-by-side against the Japanese.

They also asked US Rep. Maize Hirono on Monday to support legislation that would enable the aging former soldiers to quickly bring their sons and daughters to the United States.

"We’re growing old everyday and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow," said veteran Jose Vizconde Basug, 81, explaining why he and his comrades need help urgently.

The men fought as guerrillas to resist Japanese troops who invaded the Philippines, then a US commonwealth, in 1941.

Hirono vowed to champion their cause, saying she hoped Congress would pass both measures this year.

"You’ve waited way too long," Hirono told veterans and their wives, about 60 people in total. "I’m really hopeful that this year, you’re going to be able to get some justice."

Filipino-American veterans have pushed for decades to obtain immigration rights for their children and the same access to benefits as other World War II veterans.

They’ve had some victories over the years, gradually winning benefits promised to them long ago. In 1990, Congress passed a bill allowing thousands of veterans in the Philippines to immigrate and become US citizens. Burial rights in national cemeteries came a decade later.

In 2003, President George W. Bush signed a bill making Filipino-American veterans in the United States eligible for the same federal health care other American veterans receive.

But problems have remained, such as immigration laws that conspire to keep the families of Filipino-American veterans apart.

To fix that, Sen. Daniel Akaka has introduced a bill that would allow children of Filipino veterans to be considered for immigration outside the quota for visas for Filipinos.

Hirono plans to introduce a companion bill to the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Bill in the House.

Akaka first introduced the bill last year and the Senate passed it after attaching the measure to its immigration reform legislation. But the Senate and House couldn’t agree on a compromise bill, and the legislation was never enacted.

The benefits bill has also had trouble making it through Congress.