a lil history lesson for those of you who don't know. After the Spanish-American War which ended about 1898, the Philippines, along with Guam and Puerto Rico, was given to the US because Spain lost the war.
The Philippines was under US control when WWII began and it began giving promises of citizenship among others. however, after the war ended, they were given their independence in 1946. Most were never given citizenship (their new-found independence was most likely used as an excuse) and their pensions and medical benefits were not given to them. Most realized that all they had left from WWII were nightmares & broken promises.
It took Washington 45 years after the war to offer veterans a proper chance to obtain citizenship. Yet the Immigration Act of 1990 only allowed each veteran to bring one immediate family member to the United States.
so sad. finally some press is coming out on this issue but it looks like the government is waiting for more of them to die out before giving anything up. It sucks to see our government move so slow in doing the right thing when it is against our best interests. It took about 48 years for the goverment to apologize to the American citizens that were herded up, taken to prison camps and had all their belongings taken away. All because they were of Japanese decent.
I thought this was an important issue regardless but seeing the population of Filipinos on this board, I figured it would give you the heads up on something that might interest you and also for the non-Filipinos something to learn about Filipinos.
