Schwarzenegger terminates California bill on Pinoy vets’ affirmation as WW II heroes

By Florence F. Hibionada

Action star turned California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may not be the greatest hero off-screen now to thousands of Filipino migrants and families of over 200,000 World War II “Pinoy” veterans. This, as he moved to veto anew a State Bill aimed at recognizing the efforts of the Filipino veterans in said war.  As such, long time efforts of Filipino and Asian lobbyists who pushed for the approval of Assembly 15 was extinguished.

AB 15 aimed at including in the Social Studies curriculum of the California school district the unknown heroic roles of the Filipino soldiers who fought side by side with the American troops.

In Iloilo, over 15,000 of these soldiers live to tell their tales as they eagerly awaited for word on AB 15’s fate.  Approved or not, the effort was enough to lift the veterans’ spirits while saying that “glory” has long come for them and their families.

Yet it would have been added perk for them, the veterans’ group president said in an earlier interview made by The News Today with Manrico Lataquin. Now a naturalized American citizen courtesy of his WWII stint, the 83 year-old former seargeant of the 66th Signal Company then expressed his gratitude to AB 15.

Specifically, AB 15 encourages instruction to include a component of personal testimony of Filipinos who were involved in WW2 in the Philippines and on the U.S. home front in oral or video format.  The bill also encourages same instruction to express the reasons for participating in the war effort and requires the personal testimony which shall include comments on the aftermath of the war and the immigration of Filipinos to America.

Incidentally, records show that among the biggest migrants of California are Filipinos.
Since its introduction, AB 15 got its support from the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality and the Filipino American Educators Association.

“To the Members of the California State Assembly, I am returning Assembly Bill 15 without my signature.  While I respect the authors intent to recognize the contributions of the Filipino people during World War II, State content standards and curriculum frameworks are necessarily broad, allowing for coverage of many important historical events and cultural developments.  In fact, nothing in current law prohibits teachers today from recognizing the role of Filipinos in World War II.  Last year, I vetoed a nearly identical bill, AB 2512 (Horton, 2004), on the basis that current law already provides the necessary flexibility and that the State should refrain from being overly prescriptive.  The veto message remains applicable and, thus, I am unable to sign this bill.  Sincerely,Arnold Schwarzenegger,” the California Governor wrote to explain his veto message.

To recall, the Iloilo Sanggunian Panlalawigan was among those who made official its support-stance to AB 15 following a privilege speech delivered by Vice Governor Roberto Armada.  One of the decorated veterans who got the sole distinction with the highest military award given by the United States, the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts was an Ilonggo soldier,Mess Sgt. Jose Calugas,  a Filipino cook who left his post and fought the invading Japanese frces in Corregidor Island in Bataan.  Validated information credited this Ilonggo soldier for the lives saved not only of his fellow Filipinos but American soldiers as well.  The Iloilo City Council also passed its own Resolution pushed by Councilor Linda LIberiaga.  In Leyte, principal proponent of said effort was Senior Board Member Carlo Loreto.  Similar moves then tricked in other local government units such as that of Ifugao.