Filipino vets of World War II fighting for full U.S. benefits

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ernesto Cinco fought in the Philippine jungles alongside Americans and his fellow Filipinos during World War II. He spent 11 months in Japanese prison camps and was awarded the Bronze Star medal.

But Cinco, who was sent to war by President Roosevelt and is a U.S. citizen, is not eligible to receive the same benefits as the other veterans who were his comrades in arms.

He and about 11,000 other Filipino-American soldiers who fought under General Douglas MacArthur during World War II have been lobbying for years for official recognition of their military service and full veterans benefits.

"It's not just discrimination," said Cinco, 82, who shares a tiny room in a San Francisco residential hotel with another Filipino-American veteran. "I consider ourselves as not being treated as human beings."

When the war broke out, the Philippines were a commonwealth of the United States and Roosevelt called about 200,000 Filipinos into military service.

They joined American forces in fighting the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island in the Philippines. But under an act passed by Congress in 1946, Filipino veterans were denied the same full benefits as other American veterans.

Advocates for the Filipinos are now focusing on a bill that would allow veterans who are legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens, and who live in the United States, to get the same Veterans Affairs health care as other American veterans.

The bill has been passed by the House and is now awaiting approval in the Senate. The VA supports the bill, said Chris Allen, legislative affairs officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A matter of pride

But in their quest for equal benefits, the Filipino veterans are seeking more than just VA health care. Faustino Baclig, 80, said it is a matter of pride.

"We are not second-class citizens. We have proven that we know how to defend and fight for the United States," Baclig said. "It boils down to discrimination to me, and that is what we are fighting.

"You never expect that your ally, your friend, your protector would turn his back the moment that victory was won," said Baclig, who fought in Bataan and survived the infamous Death March. "We fought side-by-side with Americans, American whites and American blacks."

The veterans have made some progress. Between 1990 and 1995, about 17,000 Filipino veterans were naturalized as U.S. citizens in return for their military service. Under a law passed in 2000, Filipino veterans may be buried in national cemeteries.

And some Filipino veterans who were injured, or had disabilities that were aggravated during U.S. military service, can receive the same VA health care as other American veterans.

The bill in Congress attempts to get VA health care for eligible Filipino veterans even if they weren't injured during military service -- something needed by the aging veterans, who are mostly now in their 80s, said Eric Lachica, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based American Coalition for Filipino Veterans Inc.

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips, who testified before the House's subcommittee on veterans affairs in support of recognizing the Filipino veterans, said the situation is "a moment in our history that needed to be rectified."

The men, "who gave so much and sacrificed so much ... deserve to be considered a part of what is known as 'the Greatest Generation,'" said Phillips, who is Filipino-American and said he was named after a World War II hero, Gunnery Sgt. Lew Diamond. "These men have felt slighted and overlooked for 60 years."