WASHINGTON D.C. - The window for Filipino World War II veterans to apply for the lump sum payment from the United States government closed Tuesday, February 16, but the law aimed at addressing a half-century-old injustice may just be breeding another one, Filipino activists say.

“We rely on the justness of our cause,” said Arturo Garcia, national coordinator of the Los Angeles-based Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) and author of “The Unrecognized American Veterans”.

Today marked the one-year anniversary of the signing of the US stimulus bill.

The bill, the first major legislation signed by US President Barack Obama, provided $198 million for a one-time payment to an estimated 18,000 World War II veterans here and in the Philippines.

The amount was based on a roster of the Philippine Army Group at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri – the so-called Missouri List.

All applications have to go through this facility for verification.

Nearly 9,000 of the 35,715 claims received as of Feb. 1, 2010 have been disapproved; many reportedly because they were not in the Missouri List.

The fight ahead

It took nearly 5 decades for Filipino veterans to win recognition from the US government, after this was withdrawn by the 1946 Rescission Act.

Garcia said it was a mistake to stop the lobby effort after Congress awarded the lump-sum settlement.

“It is our lesson in the United States that if you will not ask for it, you will not get it,” he averred.

The large number of veterans who may be left out from the lump sum is opening up old wounds.

Surviving veterans stand to get $15,000 if they live in the US, and $9,000 if they live in the Philippines.

Veterans who may be in the Missouri list but died before the law was signed or before their lump sum applications were approved can not transfer the benefit to surviving spouses or other heirs.

Garcia stressed, “It is our duty to struggle and get the pension, to get benefits for the widows and get what is really just for the veterans”.

The lump sum payment is largely seen as a compromise in lieu of the equity bill that would have given Filipino veterans the same monthly pension and benefits enjoyed by American World War II veterans.

This is premised on the fact that at the outbreak of World War II, the Philippines was an American colony and soldiers fought the Japanese army under US military command.

Filipino veterans’ supporters on Capitol Hill worked to pass the lump sum provisions – despite an apparent consensus on the injustice foisted on them – because of stiff opposition from various groups, including key Republican lawmakers, against the equity bill.

Prospects for winning additional concessions from Capitol Hill is dim, observers say, because Congress already has a full plate of Obama priorities like job creation, healthcare reform and attempts to tackle immigration reforms.

The latter contains another major Filipino lobby issue – the family reunification bill that aims to expedite the issuance of family-based visas to relatives of aging Filipino veterans now living here.

Garcia said he is heartened by an alleged assurance from retired Gen. Victor Corpus, Philippines’ special envoy on veterans affairs, to convey the veterans’ sentiments to US Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

The US Department of Veterans Administration (DVA) chief will soon deliver a report to Congress on the implementation of the lump sum provisions, among others.

He said they are hoping Shinseki will take the cudgels for the thousands of Filipino veterans whose applications were rejected because they were not in the Missouri List.

Legal avenue for veterans

Lawyer Arnedo Valera, executive director of the Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), said he will seek declaratory relief with a petition for a writ of mandamus and preliminary injunction against the DVA.

“Firstly, we have to respect the appeals process,” he explained, “the law states the appeal has to be done within one year from the date of denial.”

But as a second step, Valera explained, the aggrieved veterans can resort to court action to compel the DVA to recognize secondary evidence.

“On that basis, not only veterans listed in the Missouri List are recognized,” he said.

He said many notable Filipinos served with distinction in the US army but were not included in the Missouri list, including the late Carlos P. Romulo and the late President Manuel Roxas, who was a reserve officer in the US Armed Forces in Far East (USAFFE) before the war broke out.

“They fought side by side with Gen. Douglas MacArthur but were never in the list. Does that mean they can not be considered as Filipino World War II veterans?” he asked.

Valera is optimistic secondary evidence can work for these veterans because of a legal precedent in the case of DC-based veteran Angelesio Tugado.

Tugado was a former military counter-intelligence officer and censor during World War II, but he was not in the Missouri List.

In 1996, Valera recounted, they filed a suit on behalf of Tugado before the Eastern District Court of Virginia to compel the government to recognize him as a World War II veteran so he can be naturalized as an American citizen.

“If the court accepts this argument, our veterans will get the $9,000 or $15,000 lump sum, depending on where the veteran is living, on the basis that even if they’re not in the list, they have acceptable secondary evidence proving they are veterans of World War II,” Valera explained.