Full Text of HR0286 94th General Assembly
HR0286 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR0286 |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, On July 26, 1941, when the Philippines were under | 3 |
| the
sovereignty of the United States, President Franklin D. | 4 |
| Roosevelt,
pursuant to the Philippines' Independence Act, | 5 |
| issued an executive
order that called all organized military | 6 |
| forces of the Philippines
into the service of the United | 7 |
| States; and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, President Roosevelt's executive order enabled | 9 |
| over
200,000 Filipino soldiers to be inducted into the United | 10 |
| States Armed
Forces in the Far East (USAFFE); and | 11 |
| WHEREAS, On December 8, 1941, just 10 hours after Japan | 12 |
| attacked
the United States at Pearl Harbor, Japan bombed United | 13 |
| States
military bases located in the Philippines and | 14 |
| consequently brought
the Filipino people into World War II; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, On March 27, 1942, the United States Congress | 16 |
| passed
Title 8 of the Second War Powers Act, which granted | 17 |
| non-citizens who
served in the United States Armed Forces | 18 |
| during the war United States
citizenship status and | 19 |
| subsequently provided every member of the
USAFFE, certain | 20 |
| individuals who served in the Commonwealth Army of
the | 21 |
| Philippines, and certain Philippine Scouts equal treatment | 22 |
| under
the law as provided by the Fourteenth Amendment to the | 23 |
| United States
Constitution; and | 24 |
| WHEREAS, On April 9, 1942, the United States surrendered | 25 |
| the
Philippines to Japan which led 75,000 USAFFE, Commonwealth | 26 |
| Army of
the Philippines, Philippine scouts, and other soldiers | 27 |
| on the Bataan
Death March, whereby nearly 10,000 Filipino | 28 |
| soldiers perished in
route to internment; and | 29 |
| WHEREAS, On September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered the | 30 |
| Philippines
back to the United States and effectively ended |
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| World War II on the
islands of the Philippines; and | 2 |
| WHEREAS, Despite the promise to provide citizenship status | 3 |
| and
equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, in | 4 |
| November 1945,
the United States State Department and the | 5 |
| United States Immigration
and Naturalization Services placed a | 6 |
| moratorium on all applications
for naturalization by Filipino | 7 |
| war veterans; and | 8 |
| WHEREAS, One month after the start of the moratorium, | 9 |
| Congress
passed the Rescissions Act of 1946, which proclaimed | 10 |
| that the service
of the Filipino veterans in World War II who | 11 |
| served under President
Roosevelt's Executive Order were no | 12 |
| longer deemed to have been active
military, naval, or air | 13 |
| service for the purposes of any law of the
United States; and | 14 |
| WHEREAS, In October 1990, nearly 45 years after the passage | 15 |
| of the
Rescissions Act, the Congress passed and President | 16 |
| George H.W. Bush
signed into law, the 1990 Immigration and | 17 |
| Naturalization Act which
finally granted United States | 18 |
| citizenship status to all Filipino
veterans; and | 19 |
| WHEREAS, Despite being granted citizenship status, | 20 |
| surviving
Filipino-American veterans have not been provided | 21 |
| equal treatment,
recognition, or benefits for their service; | 22 |
| and | 23 |
| WHEREAS, As of September 2004, the number of surviving
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| Filipino-American veterans was approximately 28,000 (8,000 of | 25 |
| whom
live in the United States); however, this total is less | 26 |
| than one-half of
Filipino-American veterans estimated to be | 27 |
| living just four years ago
and the numbers continue to decline | 28 |
| rapidly as nearly all of the
veterans are in their 70s and 80s; | 29 |
| and | 30 |
| WHEREAS, Many of these veterans are disabled, low income, |
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| and in
desperate need of existing services available to other | 2 |
| veterans and
that were promised to them approximately 60 years | 3 |
| ago; and | 4 |
| WHEREAS, These Filipino-American veterans served the | 5 |
| United States
during World War II and came to our aid in a time | 6 |
| of need and the
failure to pay these benefits reflects poorly | 7 |
| on the honor of our
country; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 9 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 10 |
| we urge the President and the Congress of the United States to | 11 |
| honor the contributions of our Filipino-American veterans and | 12 |
| direct the federal government to immediately pay them the | 13 |
| veteran's benefits as promised; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That copies of
this resolution be presented to | 15 |
| the President of the United States, to the Speaker
of the | 16 |
| United States House of Representatives, to the President Pro | 17 |
| Tempore of the Senate, and to each member of the Illinois | 18 |
| Congressional Delegation.
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