A letter received from a Filipino World War II veteran reader raises a major concern regarding the denials of many claims for lump sum benefit. He filed for lump sum benefit of $15,000 as a US citizen veteran with the US Department of Veterans Affairs. This is a claim for Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation passed into law on February 17, 2009 by President Barrack Obama granting $15,000 or $9,000 to Filipino World War II veterans.
Just as the news of lump sum checks being received by veterans are announced publicly, many Filipino veterans’ claims are also being denied quietly for veterans who have no records of military service with the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) at St. Louis, Missouri.
Mr. GT was inducted in the US Armed Forces in the Far East on November 17, 1941 when he was with the Infantry Regiment Philippine Constabulary. He was a Death March survivor and was able to escape from prison. He subsequently join the guerilla forces. His last unit was with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Recovered Personnel Division. He has proof of his honorable discharge dated July 29, 1948.
When the Immigration Act of 1990 was passed granting US citizenship to Filipino World War II veterans, he applied for naturalization. His application was approved and Mr. GT was sworn in as a US citizen in 1997.
On March 3, 2009, he applied for lump sum benefit but his claim was denied by the Department of Veterans Affairs because his name is not listed on the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) at St. Louis, Missouri as having valid military service.
In his letter, Mr. GT states that “I am so unfortunate to learn that aside from my loyal active military service, fighting side by side with the American soldiers for the same cause of freedom then after all my service is of no recognition. I also read in the news that fifty (50) per cent of the records in Missouri were burned in 1973 that is why our record is no where to be found. With your kind assistance and consideration I am asking for your help on what to do with my lost record and I won’t be naturalized if I am not a genuine veteran of World War II.”
The problem encountered by this Filipino veteran represents the problems of a significant number of veterans who fought courageously during the war but have no actual records of their service on the list kept by St. Louis Missouri. For more than half a century there has never been a consistency in policy in regards to how they are to be treated for purposes of veterans’ benefits. When the lump sum benefit or the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation was passed early this year, many victorious celebrations were held as if the final resolution to this issue had finally arrived. After three months, frustrated veterans who could not find their names on the Missouri list are facing new legal challenges.
Verifying Service Records
This is not the first time that the Missouri list was questioned as being an accurate source of military service for the Filipino veterans. The issue on verification had been a contested matter during the period of time when the Filipino veterans’ applications for naturalization were being processed in the 1990s.
The US Immigration and Naturalization Service (now the US Citizenship and Immigration Services) lost in the case of Almero v. INS (9th Circuit 1994) and Serquina v. US (9th Circuity 1994) when it limited the naturalization to veterans whose names were in the Missouri list. In the Almero and Serquina case, the court ordered the INS to accept official Philippine government records instead of US Army records to prove military service for purposes of naturalization.
Inaccurate Missouri List
The Missouri list relied upon by the US Veterans Affairs do not contain accurate record of the services of Filipino World War II veterans.
Lieutenant Colonel Edwin P. Ramsey, a West Point graduate and commander of over 40,000 guerilla troops in Northern Philippines during World War II testified during the trial in Almero case. He testified that records listing the names of his troops were created under wartime conditions in which his men were greatly outnumbered by the occupying Japanese forces. According to him, his command stopped keeping accurate rosters or lists when some of the rosters fell into the enemy hands and many of those named were executed.
Shortly after the war, Colonel Ramsey testified that he participated in the reconstruction of the list but nearly half of the Filipinos who served under his command were “derecognized’ for political reasons and their records eliminated. Other records were lost in a 1973 at the St. Louis Missouri center where the records were kept.
Since the Courts ruled against limiting the list of veterans to the Missouri list and were ordered to accept official Philippine government records, the legislation on naturalization was amended in 1998 to limit the sources of military records to those listed on final roster prepared by US Army departments or those contained on National Personnel Records Center at St. Louis Missouri. This amendment practically overturned the rulings in Almero and Serquina cases.
Verification for Lump Sum Benefits
Unlike the amendment of the legislation on naturalization in 1998, the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation or the lump sum law does not limit the sources of verifying military records. Subsection (d) of Section 1002 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 clearly defines those groups that are eligible to receive lump sum benefits. The Veterans Administration should not restrict the benefits of the few surviving veterans especially if they can prove their service with documents from the executive department under which they served, including Philippine government records.
This greatest generation has been through a lot and has long been deprived of their just recognition. To limit granting the benefits to the Missouri list is again an inequitable denial of rights of the aging Filipino veterans. Another injustice that must be immediately corrected.
(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177)
