WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The amount of $106 million for non-service connected pension for Filipino World War II veterans proposed by Senator Daniel Akaka, (D-Hawaii), Ranking Minority in the Senate Veterans Committee for inclusion in the 2007 budget was not approved.

The amount is part of the proposed total sum of $306 million submitted by Akaka in the form of an amendment to win budget authority for non-service connected pensions for WWII veterans.

"Unfortunately the amendment failed," Davelyn Kalipi, Senate Veterans' Committee Minority Staff Director, told Philippine News.

Kalipi also explained that the $106 million is based on numbers the Senate veterans committee received from the Congressional Budget Office for how much it would cost for one year to provide non-service connected pensions for WWII Filipino veterans. "It has come to our attention lately that the cost is likely higher," he also added.

The amendment (S.AMDT. 3044) was disapproved on the floor by a vote after vote by Members of the House and Senate on March 16. The results produced a $2.8 trillion budget for 2007.



BATTLE NOT OVER

Despite the initial setback, the effort to win non-service connected pension for Filipino WWII veterans in the 2007 budget continues.

The veterans committees, both at the Senate and House levels, could revisit this issue in a future committee meeting.

Presently, there are moves being made to persuade committee hearings to be held in May.

Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, told PN that rallying support for this move would be highlighted at the forthcoming anniversary of the Bataan Day on April 7. He added that there would be other activities in some areas, especially in California, to rally support.

"We are hoping to get [California Gov. Arnold] Schartzennegger to also speak for the veterans in a future meeting with Pres. Bush in Washington to urge for federal funds for endangered levees in Sacramento," he said.

Vellie Dietrich-Hall, a WWII veteran's daughter and appointed by President George W. Bush to the White House Commission for Asians and Pacific Islanders, told PN that she will again approach Virginia Republican Senator George Allen to help push the Filipino WWII veterans issue in Senate activities. Allen, vaunted as a potential Republican contender for President in 2008,

had earlier presented a Senate resolution supporting Filipino WWII veterans.

Major General Delfin Lorenzana, who heads the veterans affairs office at the Philippine Embassy, reiterated his view that meetings by Ambassador Albert del Rosario and embassy officials with Congress legislators and U.S. Veterans Affairs Department officials, especially VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, augur well for some action on the Filipino WWII veterans issue. He did not elaborate.

Unlike other veterans-related issues that had gained approval and eventual implementation -- such as compensation for veterans' widows and dependents, burial benefits, veterans' access to health facilities, and benefits for service-connected disabilities -- the issue of non-service connected pension has been a challenging issue.

Mary Ellen McCarthy, Director for the Minority, House Veterans Affairs Committee, expressed an overview on Filipino WWII veteran's issues.

"The bigger issue is pension benefits that have not been dealt with," she said, referring to the non-service connected pension. "The budget-related proposal has one distinctive feature in that unlike previous proposals, such as the $22 Million [proposed by Rep. Lane Evans last year], it is not subjected to the ‘pay-go' requirement. It would depend on Congress to provide for it in the specified year's budget, on their willingness to look for funds in the proposed budget, such as lessening the expenditure for Iraq and the like."

The pay-go policy requires that a proposed expenditure should include identification of source of funds before it can be acted upon.

"Of course, the proposed $106 million for inclusion in the 2007 budget is limited only to the fiscal year it covers," she added by way of a reminder.

Rita M. Gerona-Adkins