The following email communication pasted below forwarded to Tom captures the latest news from Washington, DC on the efforts to restore World War II Filipino American Veterans' benefits.  The photos depict Tom speaking at the FilCom center on September 23 to not surrender and continue the pursuit for justice to prevail owed these proud and courageous freedom fighters.

Greetings! The House passes S. 1315 -- with a voice vote!

We'll take it as a historic victory for our WW II Filipino veterans. I'm glad Speaker Pelosi saw fit to put forth her efforts yesterday towards the passage of S. 1315!

It would have been disastrous had Democrat Congressman Bob Filner's HR 6897 passed -- at the expense of S. 1315. But that did not happen.

My sense is that passage of S. 1315 means there's now an official recognition on the part of the US House (as it did in the U.S. Senate last April 24, 2008) to acknowledge the heroic role that our Filipino veterans played in WW II. Also -- it potentially abrogates the stigma of the 1946 Rescission Act. Our quest to restore honor, dignity and recognition to our WW II FilVets came to fruition.

On these two fronts alone -- I feel compelled to say that we've achieved a real victory for our WW II FilVets.

With S. 1315 approved -- we can now look forward to the approval of HR 6897 towards a just and fair compensation benefits for our WW II veterans -- which should be ironed under the aegis of a Veterans Conference Committee. Frankly though, I'm bothered by the "lump sum" payment" that both Democrat Bob Filner and Republican Steve Buyer have agreed on. Does this "lump sum payment" mean a one-time deal only -- i.e., pay off the veterans with x-thousands of dollars -- and that's the end of that?

Needlesss to say -- the challenge that lies ahead is humongous amidst the $700-billion bailout of Wall Street that the Congress is poised to debate and approve on or before this Friday, Sept. 26, 2008.

Bottom line -- we did achieve our goal -- passage of S. 1315! Its approval is now enshrined in the Congressional Records of the 110th Congress. Let's hope that the benefits (via HR 6897) accruing to our FilVets don't fall
victim to a nervous Congress trying to bail out Wall Street with that multi-billion dollar package deal in the next two days.

Indeeed -- it's been an arduous but fruitful journey from the time we concluded our 7th NaFFAA Global Convention held in Honolulu, Hawaai in September 2006 when our NaFFAA Chair Alma Quintans Kern and Philippine
Ambassador Willy Gaa courageously and wisely convened a Veterans Summit Meeting last December 3-6, 2006 at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC.

The aim of that Summit was to harness our collegial efforts nstionwide towards the passage of our WW II FilVets Act. Though we may not have achieved the totality of an outright victory because just compensation
benefits for our WW II FilVets have yet to be approved -- no one can deny that we've come a long way towards the approval of S. 1315 -- both in the US Senate last April 24, 2008 and now in the US House yesterday, September 22,
2008!

So -- congrtulations to all our colleaguees from NaFFAA and NAFVE, the ACFV and the other FilAm Veterans Advocacy Groups across America. Kudos to all of you -- and God bless!

Ernie R.

Congratulations to you Ernie for giving all and to others who join in their
efforts to make S1315 passed before the House. With that I salute all for a
job well done.

Art C. Gandionco

Hi Ernie,

Let's not celebrate prematurely. The good news is that S.1315 passed. The bad news is that Title IV, the Filipino Veterans Equity provision in the bill, was excised from the bill to assure its passage. It was removed because its inclusion imperilled the chances of passage of S.1315 because of Republicans' objections to overruling the Hartness case. So the "Filipino Veterans Equity" bill passed without the "Filipino Veterans Equity" provision in it. It's like getting a screwdriver without vodka. Did we get screwed here? Perhaps not. The hope is that the much-maligned "lump sum" bill of Filner gets passed today and the joint senate-house conference committee uses the Filner lump sum bill to restore Title IV back in the conference committee crafted compromise bill of S.1315. Without the Filner bill in play, this can't happen. So let's hold off on dumping on the "lump sum" bill just yet.

Rodel

KGMB reports on Filipino WWII Veterans, Sept. 23, 2008