“These two groups of people - Filipino veterans and comfort women - have long suffered injustice against them and the time has come for them to be heard. Granting Filipino veterans full veteran’s benefits and recognizing the horrific acts committed against the comfort women are long overdue,” she said.

The Washington Post, in its March 4 issue, mentioned the plight of the immediate kin of Filipino American veterans who have been unable to join their parents already here in the US  N.C. Aizenman, Washington Post Staff Writer, said “amid the wrangling over immigration reform, virtually everyone in Congress appears to agree on one point: Filipino-born veterans who fought alongside U.S. troops during World War II deserve a break."

He said Filipino American advocates are hopeful that legislation will be pushed through to exempt the veterans’ children from the immigration delay. They also are optimistic about a potentially more controversial bill that would grant Filipino veterans military pensions.

She added that “as we look to our future, we cannot forget our past.”

The National Alliance for Filipino Veterans Equity (NAFVE) hailed Pelosi’s support of the equity bill. “Two long-awaited issues facing the AAPI community, the Filipino “Speaker Pelosi has been a strong proponent of Filipino Veterans Equity Act, and we are pleased to have her support as Speaker of the House," said Lilian Galedo, NAFVE Co-Chair and Executive Director of the Bay Area based Filipinos for Affirmative Action. “Her leadership, along with that of our other friends on Capitol Hill, has been critical to the success we have enjoyed thus far."

“This bill is moving forward,” said Perry Diaz, NAFVE Steering Committee Member and Chair of the National Federation of Filipino American Republicans. “Speaker Pelosi’s strong statement has been just the latest example of positive movement on Capitol Hill on HR 760, including active support from Senator Boxer, Representative Bob Filner, and Representative Mike Honda with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. As our communities mobilize  at the grassroots level, we can only look forward to more bi-partisan support for this bill and success in finally achieving justice for our brave Filipino veterans."

  Aizenman had a different figure abut the number of veterans who will benefit from the pension bill. He said “About 5,000 veterans in the United States would stand to benefit from a change in immigration provisions, and an additional 10,000 in the Philippines could be eligible for pensions." Advocates put the number at about 7,000 in the US and 15,000 in the Philippines.

The Post continued:

“To many in the 2-million-strong Filipino American community, the issue represents a chance to cement their political identity in a nation where they have long felt invisible, even though Filipinos rank second, behind Mexicans, in the number of immigrants living in the United States.

“Historically, we Filipinos have always been looked down on as your little brown brothers — as these acquiescent people who would just accept anything Uncle Sam would do to them," said Jon Melegrito, communications director of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations.

“This is about asserting who we are as a people and how we served this country. . . . It’s a call to action to stop acting like colonial slaves and to start acting like first-class citizens."

The Post gave the background about how the Filipinos fought with the Americans to defend the Philippines, which was then a colony, against the Japanese invaders.