[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 97 (Monday, July 20, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      ANNOUNCING HEARING ON H.R. 836, FILIPINO VETERANS EQUITY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I want to again remind the Members of this 
House that on Wednesday, July 22, at 10 in the morning, there will be a 
hearing before the Committee on Veterans Affairs.
  This is not just a normal oversight hearing, not just a normal markup 
of an ordinary bill, but the culmination of more than 50 years of 
struggle for justice and honor will be presented at this hearing.
  A 15-year battle for justice and honor will be coming to a head at 
this hearing, because more than 50 years ago, the brave Filipino 
soldiers of World War II, soldiers who were drafted into our Armed 
Forces by President Roosevelt, soldiers who exhibited great courage at 
the epic battles of Bataan and Corregidor, were unceremoniously 
deprived of all their veterans' benefits by the Congress of 1946.
  Whereas there were almost a quarter of a million soldiers who were 
involved at that time, there are less than 75,000 alive today. Their 
last wish, Mr. Speaker, their last wish is to have the honor and 
dignity that was due them restored by this Congress, the honor and 
dignity of being recognized as veterans of World War II.
  The chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the gentleman 
from Arizona (Mr. Stump), will be conducting this hearing. The subject 
will be H.R. 836, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act, sponsored by the 
distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) and myself.
  Almost 200 cosponsors are part of this bill now, and what this bill 
says is that we will restore dignity and honor to these proud veterans. 
We will remedy historical injustice. We will make good on the promise 
of what America is.
  Let me just remind my colleagues that President Truman, in 1946, 
recognized the injustice that was being done by the Congress at that 
time. Here is what he said in a statement back in February of 1946. I 
am quoting President Truman:

       Filipino army veterans are nationals of the United States 
     and will continue in that status until July 4, 1946. They 
     fought as American nationals under the American flag and 
     under the direction of our military leaders. They fought with 
     gallantry and courage under the most difficult conditions 
     during the recent conflict. Their officers were commissioned 
     by us. Their official organization, the Army of the Filipine 
     Commonwealth, was taken into the Armed Forces of the United 
     States by executive order of President Roosevelt on July 26, 
     1941. That order has never been revoked or amended. I 
     consider it a moral obligation of the United States to look 
     after the welfare of the Filipine army veterans.

  That moral obligation remains with us in this Congress, as it did 
with the Congress of 1946. At this hearing on Wednesday, July 22, at 10 
in the morning, a living history, a living American history, will be 
presented to the American public. We will have testimony by survivors 
of the infamous Death March from Bataan in 1942.
  Brigadier General Nanadiego, who is now a special presidential 
representative for the Office of Veterans Affairs at the Embassy of the 
Philippines, will give his emotional story. He was on the Death March, 
where thousands of people died during the days that that march was 
taking place. There was brutality, there were assassinations, there was 
much suffering on that march.
  General Nanadiego survived that march, survived conditions in the 
prisoner of war camp, and then joined the guerrilla resistance movement 
until the Philippines was in fact restored to its independence, first 
under General MacArthur, and then getting its own independence a little 
later.
  We will hear testimony this Wednesday from Lieutenant Colonel Edwin 
Ramsey, an American officer in the Philippines who escaped after the 
fall of Bataan and organized guerrilla action in the Philippines for 
several years. It was that guerrilla action that held up the advance of 
the Japanese for much longer than American analysts thought, and 
allowed us to prepare the Philippines for MacArthur's return a few 
years later.
  Let us recognize the bravery and gallantry of the Filipino veterans. 
Let us pass H.R. 836. Let us give equity now to these brave veterans of 
World War II.

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