Many are very vocal about the possibilities that are now open to the immigrant community under a Democratic Congress, particularly over the issue of Filipino veterans’ benefits, immigration, and health care.

One Filipino-American leader said “prospects are good” for the veterans and immigration reform bills in the US Congress following the Democratic victory in the mid-term elections.

Analysts also see the Democratic victory as not very good for the Philippines which used to get ample military aid from President George W. Bush who considers  President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a rabid supporter of the US war on terror. In deliberating on these outlays, the Republican-controlled Congress often overlooked reports of alleged human rights abuses in the Philippines.

They expect the Democratic-controlled Congress to now scrutinize every proposed aid and probably tie this up with the human rights violations under the Arroyo administration, particularly the killings of activists and journalists, the erosion of the rule of law and the muzzling of the opposition.

These analysts recalled that during the Republican administration of President Ronald Reagan, the US fully supported the dictatorial rule of President Ferdinand Marcos because of the presence of the vital US bases in Luzon and the Cold War. It closed its eyes to the human rights abuses Marcos had committed in the name of fighting the Communists. But  the Democratic-controlled Congress scrutinized each and every outlay and tied it up with reforms.

 For Filipino Americans, the Democratic-controlled Congress augurs well for the passage of pending veterans and immigration bills. Congressman Bob Filner (California) and Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii), sponsors or co-sponsors of Filipino veterans bills, are poised to become chairmen of the committees on veterans’ affairs in the 110th Congress, which begins January.

 “The prospects are good for the Filipino World War II veterans’ pension benefits bill and other Filipino American issues,” said Armando B. Heredia. Heredia, executive director of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), has been lobbying members of Congress on the veterans bills with former national chair Loida Nicolas Lewis over the years. Lewis, top New York CEO and women, veterans and dual citizenship advocate, helped raise $1 million for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s first campaign,  according to another community leader.

The former First Lady and now the Democratic frontrunner in the 2008 presidential elections, has told Ms. Lewis and Heredia she would support the veterans bill.

She won 70 percent of the vote Tuesday. Heredia also looks forward to calling on his friend Jim Webb this month. Webb won a closely-contested seat as senator from Virginia.

“We shared the same company when we were both midshipmen at the US Naval Academy in the class of 1968,” he told Jennie Ilustre  in a phone interview.

Heredia, ahead of Webb by a year, was a team captain. He was impressed with Webb, and the feeling was mutual. Fellow cadets, Heredia said, found Webb “level-headed, well-liked and personable.”

In the 80s when Webb became secretary of the Navy during President Ronald Reagan’s time, he visited the Philippines and called on the admiral of the Navy, where Heredia was a captain.

Webb asked the admiral “to have me come back to the US on a fellowship grant at the US Naval War College in 1989,” Heredia said. Webb’s staff facilitated his papers.  Heredia, who said he was a Republican, is also upbeat on their lobbying opportunities because for the first time the Filipino American community has joined forces to promote Filipino American and Philippine-American issues. “There’s now a Democratic political education committee under the first NaFFAA national chair Gloria Caoile, and also a Republican political education committee, under Perry Diaz,” Heredia said.

Caoile and Diaz are respected community leaders. The committees were formed under NaFFAA during its annual conference in Hawaii. They started their education outreach during the campaign leading to Tuesday’s elections.

Many Filipino and Latin Americans see in the Democratic victory as an opening for the passage of the immigration reform bill which was approved by the Senate but held back  because of opposition from  the Republican-controlled House. Instead, Congress approved a tough border-control bill which called for the erection of a double fence along the US border with Mexico.

The Democratic party is usually sympathetic towards solving the problem of illegal immigration. With both Houses now under its control and with President Bush in favor of the immigration reform bill, passage of the reform measure is approved.

In the Washington area, the Latino and Asian American communities had actively campaigned for the Democratic party candidates because they know they are supportive of the reform bill.

For the Filipino American veterans who had also lobbied for the passage of a bill to allow their children to immigrate to the US, the way is now open for its approval.

The armchair analysts have said the downfall of the popular Sen. George Allen started with a simple remark that he made during the campaign in rural Virginia. This is now known as  the Macaca incident in which Allen, pointing to an Indian American working for Jim Webb who was videotaping his speech as a macaca and welcoming him to the world of Virginia. Macaca is a specie of monkey in Africa. This was later followed by previous remarks Allen had made about blacks and his praise of the confederacy.

Another count against Allen was his opposition to immigration reform, something which the Latino community has been advocating.

(With reports from Jennie Ilustre)