Protesting Filipino Vets Ousted

A group of elderly Filipino World War II veterans, who helped the United States fight its bloodiest foreign conflict only to be repaid with a broken promise, was evicted Monday from the scene of a long-standing protest in MacArthur Park.

In a tacit admission that the city is unable to secure its public spaces, officials said they had no choice but to wipe out the veterans’ peaceable encampment.

The officials said the veterans’ all-night vigils had made it difficult to persuade other park habitues--including prostitutes and drug dealers--that they should obey a 10:30 p.m. closing time.

The veterans were using the encampment as a base of operations to pressure Congress to act on legislation that would give them the same benefits as other U.S. soldiers.

More than 180 members of the House of Representatives are currently co-sponsoring such legislation, but it remains bottled up in a committee whose chair reportedly believes its price tag is too high.

The veterans’ protest began last summer when men in their 70s chained themselves to a fence surrounding a statue of the park’s namesake, Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It was he who promised them they would receive the same pay and benefits as regular U.S. soldiers when they joined forces with him to defeat the Japanese in the Philippines. But after the war was won, Congress denied the Filipino veterans benefits in what became known as the Rescission Act.

An attorney advising the aggrieved veterans said he suggested the chaining tactic in the expectation that it would lead to arrests, court appearances and an opportunity to respond within news media earshot to a judge’s request, “How do you plead?” with something catchy like: “We move for a congressional hearing.”

But Los Angeles police on the scene were unwilling to participate in that spectacle, and attorney Joel Bander said they told him that as far as they were concerned, the men could stay as long as they wished.

This led to a hunger strike and to expressions of sympathy for the veterans’ positions by local officials like Mayor Richard Riordan, who declared, “This is the most legitimate protest I have ever seen.” A makeshift headquarters was also erected, consisting of tarps, a tent, desks, tables and chairs, a sofa, a kitchenette, a portable toilet and even a telephone line strung along palm trees to the tent.

“The phone line is what got the parks department freaked out,” said attorney Bander.

Senior Los Angeles Park Ranger Joseph Tafoya, who supervised the eviction, confirmed that the matter of whether the phone line was legitimately obtained is under investigation.

Tafoya said protesters at what they called “Equity Village” had violated state health law by disposing of cooking oil on the grass and in trash cans.

But the big problem, he said, was MacArthur Park’s status as a high-crime area. Apparently fearing retaliation, he said, protesters sometimes harbored prostitutes and drug dealers who sought shelter in their tent when being chased by rangers or police.

Stephen Klippel, an assistant general manager for the Recreation and Parks department, said he thought he had won the agreement of protest leaders to pack up and move by Sunday, after one final ceremony. The protesters even took down their tent.

“I said once they were out we would clean up the rest of what was left,” Klippel said.

Acting with the approval of the mayor’s office, he sent in trucks and rangers just after dawn to do just that.

“They are welcome to use the park like any other citizen during the day, but there’s really not overnight camping [allowed] in any city park,” said Deputy Mayor Stephanie Bradfield.

The eviction came as a surprise to the only veteran who was present when the rangers arrived--75-year-old Francisco S.P. Dionisio, a former U.S. Army fighter and Manila police officer who had been assigned, because of his relative good health, to guard the compound on what turned out to be its last night.

“Am I arrested?” he wanted to know.

He was not.

The protest’s leader, 74-year-old Francisco Ladia, confirmed in an interview that he had initially agreed to vacate the site, but said he was countermanded by his group.

“When I brought this to the attention of the veterans, they insisted that we will stay because our staying will hasten the passage of the [legislation],” he said.

Besides, he said, the veterans were doing no harm. “We kept that area clean.”

Like MacArthur forced to flee the Philippines, Ladia vowed he would return.