A Parody of Friendship

By Solita Collas-Monsod
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:07:00 06/28/2008

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine-American Friendship Day? What a
farce. What exists between the two countries is a parody, a
travesty, of the give-and-take that characterizes a friendship
between two parties. They give us crap, and we take it, and that is
essentially what exists.

The list of such instances is a long one, one of the more recent
being how the provisions of the Philippines-US Visiting Forces
Agreement were twisted beyond all recognition, resulting in the
midnight transfer of a US soldier from a Filipino jail to the US
Embassy, in direct defiance of a court order, with the complicity of
the Philippine government. Then, of course, there were the direct
interferences by the US government in Philippine politics, again
with the complicity of our government, putting into office those who
were accommodating and keeping out those who dared to be critical.
And who can forget that provision in the Bell Trade Act—after our so-
called "independence," mind you, which required the Philippine
government to get the permission of the US president before changing
its exchange rate?

The recent visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the United
States has highlighted what is arguably the earliest post-World War
II example not only of execrable American government behavior toward
the Filipino people but also of its own hypocrisy. Consider (the
following material was taken from the National Federation of
Filipino American Associations and the American Coalition for
Filipino Veterans Inc.):

In July of 1941, then-President Franklin Roosevelt issued a military
order inducting members of the entire Commonwealth Army of the
Philippines into the US military service, making them members of the
United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). Nota bene:
Roosevelt had to do this, because when the war broke out, there were
less than 32,000 US regular troops in the Philippines. Roosevelt's
order added at least 120,0000 more, who then faced the almost
500,000 occupying Japanese forces. In other words, the United States
relied primarily on Filipino soldiers, scouts and guerrillas to
resist the occupation forces.

In 1942, the US Attorney General recognized that the Filipino
solders inducted into the US military service by President Roosevelt
were "in active service in the land and naval forces of the United
States."

Under the 1944 GI Bill of Rights, these Filipino military personnel
were at first included in consideration for benefits, confirming
their veteran status.

In September 1945, the Federal Bureau of Veterans Affairs stated
that these personnel were eligible for US veterans' benefits, thus
reconfirming their veteran status.

Clear so far? And it is not as if the Filipino military personnel
and guerrillas (organized after the USAFFE surrendered) were
deadbeats. Their role was lauded as "heroic and substantial" in
enabling the United States to succeed in its war effort. Historians
have opined that the defeat of the Japanese military in the
Philippines was the start of Japan's road to final defeat.

And this is the thanks they got:

In February of 1946 (even before we were granted our independence),
President Harry Truman signed the Rescission Act. This stripped
these same lauded soldiers of their US veteran status. Not only
that, among non-US citizen veterans of the US military that came
from 66 countries, only the Filipinos were stripped of their US
veteran status! How's that for repayment for courageous and
honorable service? They give us crap and we take it? How's that for
perfidy?

Because if the Philippine government made a protest at the time, I
have yet to hear of it, or read of it. Of course, at the time we
were still a commonwealth, and at that time, complaining against the
United States was unthinkable. Somehow, we considered them our
savior, totally ignoring the fact that if they hadn't been in the
Philippines in the first place, Japan would probably not have
attacked us. (This is the considered opinion of the famous Col.
Edwin Ramsey, who as a lieutenant formed the guerrilla forces in
Central Luzon.)

And 62 years later, with the number of veterans down to about 15
percent of their original number, these brave and patient souls are
still waiting for what should have been rightfully theirs in the
first place.

How much will it cost the United States to give the veterans their
due? Depending on the allowances, the range is between $50 million
and $100 million a year—an amount that declines, of course, as
nature takes its course and the numbers of veterans diminish by
attrition.

Compare this amount to the $435 million per day that is estimated to
be the cost of running the Iraq war (this from the San Francisco
Chronicle). But maybe that is not a fair comparison. How about if we
compare this to the $52 billion (in 2008 prices) that was the
estimated cost of the physical damage to the Philippines wrought by
World War II (remember what Ramsey said, and while we're at it, one
million Filipinos died during both the Japanese and the American
attacks)?

Or here's another comparison: In 1950 prices, the value of that $52
billion worth of damage was about $5.8 billion. The reparations
Japan agreed to pay us was less than one-tenth of that amount.
The "aid" of the United States? Certainly we received it—tied to
their suppliers. But the United States forgot to pay, and we did not
demand, rent for the use of military bases as Clark and Subic—44
years' worth.

Philippine-American Friendship Day? With that kind of friend, we
don't need any enemies.