One final lobby! Why?
By Romy Monteyro

On Monday, the 18th of March, this writer and the commander of Commander of the Filipino WWII Veterans Federation of San Diego County will go to Washington DC to launch our final lobby on behalf of the widows of the Filipino WWII veterans who were completely left out in the payment of benefits.

The WWII FilVets were finally recognized and rewarded for their wartime services, albeit too little too late, when they were granted one time lump sum payments under the Economic Recovery Act, otherwise known as the Obama Stimulus Package.

FilVets who are US citizens became entitled to a $15,000 payment, while their non-US citizen counterparts qualified for a $9,000 dole out. To date, however, many veterans have yet to receive their payments and to some, the long hoped for compensation came too late when they died before their claims were approved.

But the widows of those FilVets who died before the Economic Recovery Act was signed into law were completely left out. They too, waited for more than 60 years to receive a little something from Uncle Sam, but after the long wait, they were simply left holding an empty bag. Justifiably, they are as entitled to compensation as the surviving FilVets since their spouses also served in the US military during WWII, either as regular soldiers of the Philippine Commonwealth Army or recognized resistance fighters.

It is to this end, to obtain some kind of compensation for these hapless widows that Commander Braga and I are once again going to knock on the doors of US lawmakers in the US Congress to appeal to their sense of fairness.

Aware however, that it is quite difficult, if not downright impossible to convince these lawmakers to lend a sympathetic ear to the widows' cause if we ask for new money or appropriation, we have come up with an alternative that might just work.

We know only too well that when we ask Congress for money it would be like reaching for the moon. But in our experience, lobbyist have a better chance of success if no new appropriations are asked of our lawmakers.

Here then is how we're going to try and convince our illustrious legislators in Congress to at least listen to what we have to say and hope that they act on our proposals favorably:

As always, we seek the Divine Intervention of our Almighty God to make this latest endeavor a success, while we seek the most valuable assistance of our friends in Congress, the long time champions of our FilVets.

Once again, Congressman Bob Filner, the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee who authored the Bill that granted the lump sum payments to our FilVets will be at the forefront of this campaign. Congressman Filner has consistently and indefatigably shepherded all past efforts to recognize the wartime services of the Filipino WWII veterans,

Working with Filner, hand in hand, are our two best friends in the US Senate, Senators Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye, themselves WWII veterans. Senator Inouye, a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, it would be recalled, was instrumental in including the Bill authored by Bob Filner in the Economic Recovery Law (Stimulus Package) which finally granted the FilVets their long awaited reward from Uncle Sam for military services rendered to the United States in World War II.

Be in prayer with us dear readers that we may succeed in this worthwhile final mission. This is the least we can do for our valiant Filipino WWII veterans, their spouses and their widows, in the twilight of their lives.

Comments to romymon@cox.net.