Yee Honored by Filipino veterans
San Mateo County Times, 10/2/04
By Christine Morente
DALY CITY
A group of Filipino American World War II veterans on Friday thanked Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, for helping stopy Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from slashing the California Veterans Cash Benefit Program from the state budget.
If the Program had been cut from the budget Filipino veterans would no longer be eligible to receive $226 per month in disability payments.
The money allows them to live in comfort and dignity, said Jose Caedo, president of the Filipino American Democratic Empowerment Council.
Yee who is speaker pro tem and running for a second term in District 12, which covers western San Francisco, Daly City, Broadmoor, and Colma – is the fourth person recognized for his efforts by the American Legion and Bataan Post 600.
“It’s a really very prestigious thing,” Caedo Said before the luncheon. “(Yee) worked to have strong bipartisan support to maintain it on the budget. There are about 2,000 veterans in their 80s in the Philippines, and most of them are disabled.”
During the luncheon of lumpia, pancit and other native Filipino food, Yee was described as a true friend of the Filipino community and an adopted Filipino.
In the past, Yee reopened the Filipino Education Center, authored and passed a resolution urging President George W. Bush and Congress to restore full benefits to Filipino World War II veterans in 2001, and has worked with the West Bay Filipino Multi-service Center and California health Initiatives Inc.
“I am a Chinese American, but I do feel that I am a Filipino,” Yee said. We made sure that (saving the program) was a priority. It was a right issue and a moral issue. We asked the Filipinos to help us (during World War II) and they paid their heavy price.”
“You are a tremendous role model to us, he told the veterans.”
Amado Calimquim, who was a Philippine Scout during WWII, said Yee has been very good to them.
“He did not let (Schwarzenegger) strike out the benefits, he said. We were very much worried when we first heard the rumors. But we were able to convince and persuade the governor to not strike it out.
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