graphic frontpage

the US rescission act of 1946:

opting for a cheap way out

In the final year of World War II in the Pacific, the United States was busy gathering its military forces for the planned invasion of Japan. Part of the plan was to induct Filipinos into the US Army, which was reconstituting a new Philippine Scouts Division.

The US invasion was called off once Japan capitulated in August 1945 after the United States dropped two atomic bombs, one in Hiroshima and the other one in Nagasaki.

With the war over, the US Congress made sure to reduce the costs of maintaining a massive military machine and one of the casualties of this effort were the Filipinos who gladly fought for the American flag.

Data from the US Office of Veterans Affairs show that Filipinos would’ve received an estimated amount of $3.2 billion in pension benefits if not for the passing of the US Rescission Act of 1946. The Act effectively stripped Filipinos who were inducted into the US Armed Forces in the Far East and the new Philippine Scout Division of their recognition as US veterans. The US Congress passed the US Rescission Act or Public Law 70-301 in Feb. 18, 1946, and was signed into law by President Harry Truman.

The Act states that the service of Filipinos "shall not be deemed to be or to have been service in the military or national forces of the United States or any component thereof or any law of the United States conferring rights, privileges or benefits." The US government offered to give $200 million to the Philippines if all claims for veterans benefits were dropped. The Philippine rejected the offer.

The Philippines seen as an "economic liability"

According to the website of the Filipino Veterans in the United States, US legislators at the time may have been staggered by the huge amount the United States have to spend to finance the reconstruction of the Philippines. The study made the Filipino veterans group said: "The manner in which Congress passed the Rescission Act may have been influenced by other bills under consideration to finance the post-independent reconstruction of the Philippines. The Philippine Rehabilitation Act, enacted in April 1946, authorized appropriations of $620 million, while the Rescission Act itself was combined with an appropriation of $200 million to pay unpaid salaries to Filipino veterans. There was a deep-rooted feeling in Congress against further federal spending for the Philippines, since it would soon to be politically independent from the United States. All through the colonial period, Congress had tended to be paternalistic in attitude, considering the United States’s possession of the Philippines to be an economic liability rather than a strategic asset. In the legislature’s view, the United States had always been too generous a donor, and the Philippines an insatiable recipient."

An insult

Filipino veterans saw the US Rescission Act as a slap on their faces and a total disregard of the service they performed. They pointed to the pledge they made when they were inducted into US military command:

I, ____, do solemnly swear... that I will bear true faith and allegiance... to the United States of America... that I will serve them honestly and faithfully... against all their enemies whomsoever... and I will obey the orders... of the President of the United States... And the orders of the officers appointed over me... according to the rules and Articles of War."

The Filipinos who made this oath rightfully felt betrayed. The Philippines, they explained, was a US territory then and they had fought under the US flag. They asked: "Why would the US Congress not recognize us as veterans?"

Ironically, President Truman said after signing the Rescission that Filipinos "fought with gallantry and courage under the most difficult conditions during the recent conflict" and "I consider it a moral obligation of the United States to look after the welfare of the Filipino Army veterans," promising the matter would be deliberated by the two governments."

Truman made the statement to placate the feelings of Filipinos and raised their hopes that the matter would be eventually corrected. In 1948, the United States agreed to construct a veterans hospital in the Philippines but stopped short of rescinding the US Rescission Act.

A long road

Forty-four years after the passage of US Rescission Act, the first real break in the impasse of regaining the lost benefits and official recognition was made. In 1990, the US government through a new immigration law allowed eligible Filipino veterans to obtain US citizenship. Thousands tried to avail themselves of this opportunity but ended up destitute in the United States. They had expected that following the right to US citizenship, they would also be able to gain their lost pensions. Unfortunately, the US Rescission Act of 1946 still cast its shadow over the veterans.

It was only in 2004 when full veterans benefits were given to aging Filipinos who had been inducted into the Commonwealth Army and Filipinos who were members of recognized guerilla forces. The caveat was that those eligible to receive these benefits should be living in the United States. The veterans who were still in the Philippines were once again left out in the cold.

Supporters of the veterans’ cause believe efforts to correct the injustice were hampered because of the image of the Philippines of always demanding financial assistance. US officials were getting tired of being "a permanent donor and the Philippines as permanent goodwill-seeker." Because of this mindset, the veterans group explain that the "consensus between the two governments about the unfairness of the Rescission Act gradually faded away, and the US Government also came to consider the issue as just one more an item of Philippine Government’s endless demands for assistance."

It has been a long road veterans had traveled to regain what is rightfully theirs. It is just ironic that decades later, the United States essentially still got what it originally wanted. Instead of paying $3.2 billion, what they will be giving would be almost the exact amount envisioned in the US Rescission Act: $221 million.