While many inept Filipino-American veterans are thinking of going home rather than wait for their final days to creep in, Ildefonso Quibin, 83, had another thing in mind. For fourteen years, he opted to stay while the veterans equity and family reunification bills are being deliberated for approval in U.S. Congress.
Unlike most Fil-Ams, whose sights and senses are always trained on the latest developments on the equity bill, which is expected to grant the thousands of surviving veterans a monthly pension almost at par with their American counterparts, which they can take home if they wish to do so. Quibin, on the other hand, does not appear disturbed at the prospect that the bill will not go anywhere.
"I’m not worried at all," he says, with mixed emotions as we discussed the recent situation in Philippine politics. "I’d be more than happy if they will approve the family reunification bill because it will automatically provide greencards to our children and grandchildren who have been waiting all these years to join us in the U.S," adds the former Carson commissioner and now coordinator of a Fil-Am veterans group in the South Bay area, after learning that the equity bill was sidelined momentarily in time for the congressional recess.
"I do believe that the latter is more important as it will allow our children to come over and work legally in the U.S.," he says, noting that opportunities in the Philippines are getting constricted due to the advent of too much politics and the economic woes that many Filipinos face at this time.
"I don’t want them to suffer too much, especially now that most of commodities in the local market are very expensive to buy," he laments.
The old man, who can actually pass for 60, is happy of what he is getting from the state government, which allows him and his ailing wife, Rosita, to survive the daily grind in this bastion of Southern California.
"At least, here we have peace of mind because we are accorded free medical benefits by the government," he continues. One important benefit that the couple gets is the regular dialysis treatment that his wife gets, which is paid for by the government. "And this something that I can’t get in my home country."
Leave Your Comments