Forgotten Heroes

Dependent on his monthly Social Security check and the help of some local charities to get by, Gregorio Raguimia lives modestly in a small apartment off San Fernando Road just south of the Glendale border.

It is a vastly different scene from his father’s farm in the Philippines, where Raguimia was born 85 years ago and grew rice and bananas with his three sisters and five brothers until Japanese soldiers invaded the island nation during World War II.

At the time, the Philippines had become an American commonwealth after centuries of Spanish rule, so in 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt issued a military order for soldiers to take up arms with Americans in the Far East. Not a member of the regular Commonwealth Army, Raguimia joined one of a number of guerilla outfits. Missions commonly involved hiding in trees to spot and fire upon advancing Japanese soldiers, though bullets and grenades were often scarce.

“It was a dangerous time. If you didn’t have ammunition, you threw the hand grenade and ran,” he recalled.

When American forces arrived to retake the islands in 1944, Raguimia enlisted with the US-organized New Philippine Scouts, who helped liberate the island and then served as military police until the fall of Japan. Following that fight, Raguimia worked as a civilian mechanic with the US Navy until retirement and then left his family behind in the early 1990s to make a new life in the United States — the country that he and hundreds of thousands of his countrymen had fought to defend.
But today, Raguimia and the remaining veterans of those hard-fought battles are considered anything but heroes by the American government, which has historically denied benefits to these men and women. Although they once numbered as many as a quarter-million, survivors now total some 6,000 people living in the US and 12,000 people still living in the Philippines.

To make ends meet and ensure he can send a couple hundred dollars home to his family each month, Raguimia picks up food at the Los Angeles-based Filipino American Veterans Service Group, Inc. But the simple fact remains: “I need money,” he said. And, “I want to be able to take it home [to the Philippines] with me.”

Common sense
Raguimia isn’t alone in his need. Immigration legislation in 1990 allowed thousands of Filipino World War II veterans to obtain American citizenship, but like many others who fought, Raguimia could not afford to bring his wife and 14 children.

But with the help of a number of politicians, including Pasadena Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, the veterans have been fighting to amend the provisions of the Rescission Act of 1946, which declared that the Filipino veterans’ service in World War II would not be deemed active military service, disqualifying them for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Approved by Congress after Roosevelt’s death and in the same year the US ceded its sovereignty over the Philippines, the Rescission Act ended for more than half a century any claim to veterans’ benefits that these men would have had.

Last year, Hawaii’s Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye introduced the Filipino Veterans Equity Act, which has since been integrated into Senate Bill 1315, called the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act. The bill, which would give Raguimia and others in his situation full veteran status, passed the Senate on April 24.

Meanwhile, corresponding legislation written by San Diego Democratic Congressman and Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bob Filner is making its way through the House of Representatives, where it has run into opposition from some high-ranking Republicans. 

“There is scarcely a Filipino family today in either the United States or in the Philippines that does not include a World War II veteran or a son or daughter of a veteran,” said Filner during a Feb. 15 hearing. “Sixty years of injustice burns in the hearts of these veterans. Now in their 80s and 90s, their last wish is the restoration of the honor and dignity due them.”

According to a recent report by the Philippine News, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for Democrats to support Filmer’s bill and hopes to pass the legislation before Memorial Day. However, at least five-dozen Republican votes will also be necessary to pass the bill, which requires two-thirds support.

“This is a common sense measure and I am proud to cosponsor it. The Filipino service men and women in the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines, the Recognized Guerilla Forces, and the New Philippine Scouts fought alongside our troops with great bravery after being inducted into our armed forces,” said Schiff. “This bill will ensure that they receive the veterans’ benefits they have earned and deserve for their service.”

Before it’s too late
SB 1315 cosponsor Sen. Daniel Akaka, Hawaii’s other Democratic senator and chair of the Senate’s Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, has been a strong proponent of granting Filipino veterans the rights normally accorded all US military veterans.
“These veterans have been denied these benefits for over 50 years,” said Akaka. “I believe it is time to give these elderly veterans the benefits that they earned and so richly deserve.”
Akaka found a strong ally in California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein, who, according to her spokesman Scott Gerber, “has consistently supported fair compensation for the brave and noble contributions of Filipino veterans during World War II. That is why she has supported the Filipino Veterans Equity Act and she hopes it will be approved by Congress and signed into law.”
James Maddox of the Vietnam Veterans of America’s Pasadena branch also supports these legislative efforts.

Three years ago, the VVA passed a resolution to “support legislation that would recognize service in the military organizations and forces of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during the liberation of the Philippines in the same manner as if the veterans had served in the US forces, thereby making them eligible for benefits administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
The question now, however, is how much longer can these men and women wait for the government to act?

“Now that [the veterans] have been getting older,” said Maddox, “it is convenient for the US government to drag its feet so that they will die off and [the government] won’t have to do anything. They did a good job during World War II, and after the war they were forgotten.”
Eric Lachica, executive director of the national advocacy organization American Coalition for Filipino Veterans Inc., said he is hopeful that these bills will soon find their way to the president’s desk.
“I am very optimistic we are able to pass the bills. We have the key support of Akaka and Filner. And we are able to overcome the Republicans’ opposition because of our relationship building and being able to convince them of the merits of the bills,” he said.

Such a victory couldn’t happen too soon for Peping Baclig, an 86-year-old Whittier resident who fought in the Philippines in World War II and has been active in the Southern California campaign to overturn the Rescission Act.

Baclig is a survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March, a brutal 82-mile forced march that claimed the lives of more than 10,000 American and Filipino fighters captured by the Japanese. Prisoners were forced to endure the intense summer heat without food, water or rest.

“When the soldier guarding us took rest, we were only allowed to squat,” said Baclig. “When we couldn’t keep up with the pace of the march, they would strike us with bats.”

Baclig, who left teaching school to join the military, said that during the march he was slapped in the face by Japanese troops when he reached for a drink of water offered by a bystander. That was a lucky break — others were beaten with rifle butts for similar attempts.

With him on the march were three former high school classmates who kept him from sitting down and giving up. The punishment for those who did was often death.

“There were many times I wanted to sit and wait for the consequences,” he said. “But there was always someone who pulled me up when I tried to give up. That I was able to survive made me closer to God.”

‘A matter of principle’
When Baclig arrived in the United States in 1986, authorities initially blocked his attempts to become an American citizen. So he hired an attorney, fought back and won — a victory that inspired his advocacy for Filipino veterans’ benefits.

“We want to be recognized as US World War II veterans. We don’t like to be considered second-class citizens,” he said. “It is so disappointing and discouraging that the US government taught us the art of government, democracy, liberty and equality, but when the war was over they denied us the very things for which we fought. We are fighting for a matter of principle now, nothing else,” he said.
In 1987, Baclig started volunteering at Filipino American Service Group Inc., which provides social services for low-income Filipino-American families. He also helped found several local organizations, including the Golden Agers of Los Angeles, Cabugao-Ilocos Sur Seniors Inc., and Alyansa ng Komunidad.

Baclig and Los Angeles resident Arturo Garcia, 61, are co-founders of Justice for Filipino American Veterans, a network of 62 organizations in Southern California that includes 17 student and 10 senior citizen groups.

“We are so passionate and emotional about the issue,” Garcia said. “The veterans who served in World War II deserve their benefits. They should not be taken for granted by the US government. By disenfranchising the Filipino veterans, America is not paying a debt of gratitude to the Filipino people.”

There have been several large victories for the veterans since 2000. Laws have been passed which grant Filipino veterans burial and health care benefits. Veteran advocates are also pushing for the passage of Senate bill 671, the Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act (also introduced by Akaka), which would exempt children of certain Filipino World War II veterans from the limits of a visa quota.  

This could be incalculably valuable to people like Raguimia, who only now after years of petitioning the government will be able to bring one of his sons to stay with him in America. “It was very hard leaving my family behind,” he said, “but what could I do?”

Michael Nailat, a member of the advocacy group Search to Involve Pilipino Veterans, say too many elderly people like Raguimia are living among us without the support of their families.

“For a lot of them to survive out here they need their families around,” said Nailat. And for others, “This is their only chance for their families to join them before they pass away.”