Community leaders and possibly retired Gen. Delfin N. Lorenzana, head of the Philippine embassy’s Office of Veterans Affairs here, were expected to testify at the Feb. 15 hearing as part of the community panel. Other witnesses would come from the Bush administration panel and the congressional panel.

The Equity Bill would amend Section 107 of Title 38 of the US Code (Rescission Act of 1946). When the Philippines was an American Commonwealth , some 120,000 Filipinos heeded President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s military order to fight in the war. The Rescission Act stopped pension, health and burial benefits for nonservice-connected Filipino veterans. Congress has restored the other benefits, except pension. (Veterans with service-connected disability continued to receive compensation and other benefits, extended to their spouses and widows.)

In Manila , retired Col. Emmanuel V. de Ocampo, president of the Manila-based Veterans Federation of the Philippines , told Mail National Editor Bill Branigin he is coming here to attend the hearing. De Ocampo and other VFP officials have been attending hearings on veterans’ benefits bill over the years. “We want to insure that the World War II veterans living in the Philippines get their due," he said in one of their visits.

Led by the a group formed in the Dec. 6-7 national veterans’ conference at the Philippine embassy here, is not taking any chances. In a Feb. 3 meeting, the newly-named National Alliance for Filipino Equity has named advocate Ben de Guzman as national coordinator of a grassroots lobby.

The lobby aims to insure the passage of the bill in the Senate, where Democrats hold a razor-thin 51-49 majority.

“This is the closest opportunity we have of passing the Equity Bill,” NaFFAA communications director Jon Melegrito said in a phone interview.

He and California advocate Lillian Gallego will be alliance  co-chairs.

Named congressional liaison officers were Irene Bueno, principal at the Nueva Vista Group LLC here, and Charmaine Manansala, who used to work for then House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Under previous failed legislation, the proposed monthly pension was $800. This year’s bill would probably be a compromise, involving much less. “Trust me on this, that I will consider what is in the best interest of the veterans," Filner said at the December national conference called by Philippine Ambassador to the US Willy C. Gaa and  NaFFAA.

Said Melegrito: “The Equity bill is not really about the money, it’s about restoring full recognition of the service of veterans. First we get the authorization, then we talk about appropriations."

In a separate phone interview Feb. 5, Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition for Filipino Veterans here, said, “”We are proposing $200 monthly pension for veterans here and in the Philippines, with an additional medical allowance for those living in the Philippines ." That is, an estimated annual appropriations “of $18 million, with an additional $4 million for medical allowance."

“We will work in partnership with the alliance, but we will do so independently as a registered lobby group," he added. The ACFV is lobbying simultaneously for two pieces of legislation: the Equity Bill and the family reunification bill. The reunification bill, expected to be re-filed this month, seeks to speed up the entry of the veterans’ adult children and below age 21 grandchildren this year. If it passes this year, those with approved petitions could come to the US within months.

In a phone interview from Los Angeles, California , ACFV vice president for membership Franco Arcebal noted the Equity Bill would be taken up in the veterans committee. Reunification is an immigration bill that will go to the Judiciary Committee.

Arcebal, 83, said, “The Equity Bill is important because it’s about pension. But the reunification bill is also urgent. Many of our members are in their 80s and want to see their children before they die. We have to do something this year while they are still alive."