Veterans advocate Jerry Adevoso lauds FilAm community for lobby efforts

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Jerry Adevoso is senior adviser to the President of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines. Photo by Wendell Gaa

Jerry Adevoso is senior adviser to the President of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines. Photo by Wendell Gaa

By Wendell Gaa

For Jerry Adevoso, being an advocate for Filipino veterans is more than a 9-to-5 job. It is a lifelong calling.

He remembers how in 1975 he was called to the room of his gravely ill father, Terry Adevoso, a guerrilla who fought the Japanese as commander of the Hunters-ROTC. There, he was handed his father’s last wish for him to help carry on the campaign to fight for the long-overdue recognition of the bravery of Filipino WWII veterans. A month later, his father passed away. Since then, Jerry’s campaign for the veterans has been unceasing.

Jerry is currently the senior adviser to the President of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP), which serves as the umbrella organization for all Filipino veterans in the country. He counsels the VFP on matters affecting direct descendants of veterans from the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War, along with issues concerning the military campaigns in Mindanao.

While his engagement with veterans began when he was a young boy tagging along with his father — he recalled shaking the hands of former President Ramon Magsaysay in 1955 — Jerry became involved with veterans in an official capacity in November 2002. He was appointed head of the Veterans Affairs Office at the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He believes his great accomplishment during his tenure to “reopen the hearts and minds” of legislators in the U.S. House and Senate to the plight and financial needs of FilAm World War II veterans.

During his time in D.C., Jerry had the pleasure to work with such notable U.S. public officials as the late Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, whose wartime service as a Japanese-American soldier in Europe and his legislative advocate for veterans are well-known. He had also worked with my father, the late Ambassador Willy C. Gaa, on several veterans’ issues.

The late Col. Terry Adevoso and an 8-year-old Jerry meeting then President Ramon Magsaysay on January 1, 1955.

The late Col. Terry Adevoso and an 8-year-old Jerry meeting then President Ramon Magsaysay on January 1, 1955.

From his father, he learned about the veterans’ harrowing stories of survival and sacrifice. How the Filipino combatants fought alongside American soldiers against the Japanese imperial forces, and how they were initially promised the same benefits as their U.S. allies by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, because they were actually fighting under the U.S. flag. The Filipino fighters placed their trust in the U.S. Government, but tragically their hopes were quashed at the end of the war with the passing of the Rescission Act that “retroactively annulled the benefits that would have been payable to Filipino troops” who fought during WW II.

By 2003, Jerry returned to the Philippines to assist the Arroyo administration in helping the veterans from the home base. (He was succeeded as Veterans Affairs head in D.C. by the current Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana). In Manila, he was appointed as the first Presidential Assistant for Veterans Affairs, a newly created position.

“This action was a positive sign that the President was paying close attention to veterans’ affairs,” he said. He served in that position until 2008. I fondly remember during this period how the two of us were coincidentally guests on the local Manila talk show “Pilipinas Ngayon Na!” during the 2007 taping of the show’s 2nd Anniversary. At the time, I was with the Office of ASEAN Affairs of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.

Jerry shared the sentiments of several VFP members in being thankful that the U.S. has at least provided partial monetary recognition to veterans through the 2009 economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama. The law compensates eligible Filipinos who fought for the U.S. during WWII in the amount of $15,000 for each veteran who is a U.S. citizen and $9,000 for each veteran living in the Philippines. They acknowledge the amount does not represent the entire set of benefits that the U.S. Government normally gives to its veterans. He said his father would have expressed disappointment – even contempt – at the unfulfilled promises made by the U.S. Government.

“People can forget the lessons of history, it’s a matter of reminding them what happened,” he said. “It’s not only a matter of educating U.S. legislators, it’s a matter of educating the FilAms themselves who didn’t know what happened.”

As the Presidential Assistant for Veterans Affairs, Jerry would still travel to the U.S. to join FilAm community leaders in lobbying legislators for veterans’ interests. He congratulates the different FilAm community groups for their intensive efforts on several veterans’ issues, which have resulted in the passage of the 2009 Economic Stimulus Act and the 2017 Congressional Gold Medal Awarding.

“Those living in the U.S. can do so much more since they are there,” he said. “The FilAm community should be congratulated for their lobbying efforts. This was the first time I have seen communities actively and directly lobbying for the causes of the veterans and their benefits.”

© The FilAm 2018

With former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

With former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.



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