Filipino Veterans

VA Benefits for Filipino Veterans
WASHINGTON (May 14, 2003) -- Citizens of the Republic of the
Philippines who serve today in the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible for VA
benefits under the same criteria as other U.S. military veterans. However,
eligibility for VA benefits for Filipino veterans who served in recognized
units of the Philippine Armed Forces - especially during World War II - is
not so clear-cut.

The Philippine Islands gained their independence from the United
States in 1946 following a transition period that was interrupted by World
War II. During World War II, Filipinos served in a variety of units, some
coming under direct U.S. military control, others having no ties to the U.S.
military, and still others falling somewhere in the middle. Federal law,
international treaties and court cases have taken up the question of which
VA benefits should be given to various groups of World War II Filipino
veterans.

The United States recognizes service in four groups as qualifying
for some VA benefits, but only one group, the Regular Philippine Scouts,
qualifies for full benefits.

* Regular, or "Old," Philippine Scouts. Regular Philippine Scouts,
or "old scouts," were Filipino special forces units of the U.S. Army whose
officers were Americans. Originally formed in 1901, long before any formal
plan for Philippine independence, the Regular Philippine Scouts were part of
the U.S. Army throughout its existence. Their military service is
considered active service in the U.S. Armed Forces and, therefore, they are
eligible for all VA benefits and services at full benefit rates.

* New Philippine Scouts. New Philippine Scouts were Philippine
citizens who served with the U.S. Armed Forces with the consent of the
Philippine government and served between Oct. 6, 1945, and June 30, 1947.

* Guerrilla Service. People in this group, called U.S. Armed Forces
of the Far East (USAFFE) guerrillas, served in resistance units recognized
by and cooperating with U.S. forces between April 20, 1942, and June 30,
1946.

* Commonwealth Army of the Philippines. Also known as the
Philippine Commonwealth Army, its members served on or after July 26, 1941,
and before June 30, 1946.

Entitlement to VA Benefits
Filipino veterans who served with U.S. forces in the Regular
Philippine Scouts before October 6, 1945 are entitled to all VA benefits
under the same criteria as U.S. veterans. The entitlement of Commonwealth
Army veterans and veterans of recognized guerrilla forces who live outside
of the United States is limited but includes certain monetary benefits at
half the statutory rate, and those who lawfully reside in the United States
areentitled to full-rate disability compensation and burial benefits.
Entitlement of the New Philippine Scouts is at the half rate no matter where
they reside.

Legislation passed in 2001 granted the full amount of disability
compensation to Commonwealth Army veterans and USAFFE guerrillas who reside
in the United States and are either U.S. citizens or aliens with permanent
residence status. That legislation doubled disability compensation to 720
Filipino veterans in the U.S.

Under current law, those veterans are also entitled to burial in a
national cemetery, a burial flag, a grave marker or headstone and a burial
allowance. Service-disabled veterans may also receive comprehensive health
care in the United States. Their survivors are entitled to dependency and
indemnity compensation at half the statutory rate. New Philippine Scouts
are entitled to disability compensation at half rates and their survivors
are paid dependency and indemnity compensation at half rates, no matter
where they reside. New Scouts are also entitled to medical treatment for
service-connected disabilities only, on a discretionary basis.

VA estimates that at the beginning of FY 2004 (Sept. 30, 2003),
there will be approximately 29,350 Filipino veterans. As of April 2003,
approximately 3,800 Filipino veterans living outside the United States were
receiving VA compensation as well as 5,000 surviving spouses and children of
Filipino veterans outside the U.S. Another 900 Filipino veterans in the
United States were receiving compensation, as were 398 surviving dependents.


Health Care and Other Benefits
VA offers comprehensive hospital and nursing home care and medical
services in its U.S. facilities to veterans of the Commonwealth Army and the
recognized guerrillas who are lawfully admitted U.S. residents and receive
VA disability compensation. New Philippine Scouts may receive care only for
service-connected conditions and within the limit of VA resources. In the
Philippines, only the Old Scouts may receive comprehensive VA care,
including care in the Manila VA outpatient clinic. VA makes inpatient care
available at Philippine community hospitals under contract. The Republic of
the Philippines also provides free hospital care to its war veterans.

In December 1999, Congress enacted a law expanding income-based
disability benefits from the Social Security Administration to Filipino
veterans of World War II who live outside of the United States and served in
the Philippine military forces while those forces were in the service of the
United States. Previously, recipients of Supplemental Security Income were
required to live in the United States; the law permitted them to return to
the Philippines and continue to receive 75 percent of their SSI benefits.

Background
The origins of the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines are in the
early 1900s when the United States assumed formal sovereignty over the
Philippines. At that time, the United States was preparing for the
Philippines to become a sovereign nation. Public Law 73-127, enacted in
1934, reflects this. It required the Commonwealth Army to respond to the
call of the President of the United States under certain conditions. In
fact, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the Commonwealth Army to service
on July 26, 1941, and it served with the USAFFE command throughout World War
II.

Public Law 79-190, enacted in October 1945, authorized recruiting
50,000 "new" Philippine Scouts in anticipation of needing local occupational
forces. President Truman acknowledged the contributions of the Philippine
people who fought under the umbrella of the USAFFE command to defend the
Philippine Islands against occupation by the Japanese. He called for a
study to determine the level of benefits appropriate to conditions in the
Philippines. The reduced rate of benefits to veterans living there was based
on the different economic conditions in the Philippines and the United
States.

Current laws affecting these benefits date to congressional actions
in 1946 that specified that the service of groups other than the Old Scouts
would not be considered U.S. military service. Congress historically has
resisted changing the formula under which responsibility for the welfare of
these veterans is shared between the United States and the Philippines.

In 1948, Congress passed a law that authorized VA to build and equip
the hospital now called Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), in Manila,
which was turned over to the Philippine government in 1955. The VA
outpatient clinic was established three years later.

The U.S. government also gave the Philippine government grants of at
least $500,000 per year for more than 30 years, starting in the 1960s, to
help the VMMC upgrade its equipment and physical plant. A VA contract with
the VMMC was expanded by legislation in 1963 permitting the center to care
for non-service-connected conditions of Filipino and U.S. veterans. But it
was not until 1973, however, that legislation permitted VA itself to provide
medical treatment of service-connected conditions (and non-service-connected
illnesses in certain conditions) for Philippine Army and New Philippine
Scout veterans. In fiscal years 2002 and 2003, VA furnished medical
equipment to the VMMC worth a total of nearly $1 million.

The half rates of compensation to most Filipino veterans living in
the Philippines, now in federal law, were intended to reflect that the
Philippines had a lower cost of living than the United States. Since World
War II, however, many Filipino veterans and their dependents have immigrated
to this country.

Filipino veterans service organizations seek increased benefits for
various groups. Some claim they served as guerrillas, but their service
cannot be verified. VA has reviewed, and continues to review, legislative
proposals that would expand benefits to Filipino veterans.