FILVET WIDOWS PRESS RIGHTS, BACK LAWSUITS (tags)
The lawsuits were borne out of the deep frustration, anger and longing of veterans and families to seek recognition and justice. The US Congress failed to deliver justice and so people have the right to seek the power of the courts to tell Congress to do its job.” That was the response sent by three veterans groups to this writer’s blog last Nov. 17 that discussed the repercussions of lawsuits filed by Filipino World War II veterans, their widows and supporters on Capitol Hill. The rejoinder bore the names of Dolly Castillo, Coordinator of the Filipino-American WWII Veterans’ Widows of Washington in Seattle, WA; Maria Galang, President of the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (AWARE) in San Francisco, CA; and Jovy Alejandrino, Vice President of the Senior Pilipino-Americans for Community Empowerment (SPACE) in Los Angeles, CA.
JFAV Updates November 29, 2010 FILVET WIDOWS PRESS RIGHTS, BACK LAWSUITS (tags)
“The lawsuits were borne out of the deep frustration, anger and longing of veterans and families to seek recognition and justice. The US Congress failed to deliver justice and so people have the right to seek the power of the courts to tell Congress to do its job.” That was the response sent by three veterans groups to this writer’s blog last Nov. 17 that discussed the repercussions of lawsuits filed by Filipino World War II veterans, their widows and supporters on Capitol Hill. The rejoinder bore the names of Dolly Castillo, Coordinator of the Filipino-American WWII Veterans’ Widows of Washington in Seattle, WA; Maria Galang, President of the Association of Widows, Advocates and Relatives for Equality (AWARE) in San Francisco, CA; and Jovy Alejandrino, Vice President of the Senior Pilipino-Americans for Community Empowerment (SPACE) in Los Angeles, CA. In our blog, we reported how some key supporters on Capitol Hill, principally Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, chairman of the influential appropriations committee, were hurt by the lawsuits that appeared to criticize shortcomings in the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) bill which provided a single lump-sum payment for surviving veterans here and in the Philippines.
Claims DELAYED, JUSTICE DENIED (tags)
Despite the Letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) to the Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV) dated September 4, 2009 in reply to our questions, the national alliance based in Los Angeles continues to receive numerous complaints from Filipino World War II veterans on the slow process of their claims. It is more than six months now when the Stimulus Bill was passed and only less than 2,000 Filipino veterans in the United States have received their checks. We want to know what keeping the claims so slow. Therefore, we are afraid and have to tell the veterans and their dependents that the claims will take another 18 months at most to be all be paid to tall of them.