Filipino-Born U.S. Veterans Reoccupy MacArthur Park

Carrying placards proclaiming “We Shall Return!” a hardy group of Philippine-born World War II soldiers Saturday reoccupied the area around the Los Angeles monument honoring their former commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, demanding U.S. veterans benefits.

“We will stay until we get equity,” said Francisco Ladia, a 74-year-old retired Methodist minister who fought alongside U.S. troops as a guerrilla combatant during the Japanese occupation of his homeland.

The 40 or so veterans retook the site in MacArthur Park after being evicted Monday by city officials concerned that the veterans’ all-night vigils had made it difficult to persuade other park habitues--including prostitutes and drug dealers--that they should abide by a 10:30 p.m. closing time.

The city move angered the elderly veterans, who had peaceably occupied the site, dubbed “Equity Village,” for 301 days. Their aim is to garner publicity and put public pressure on Congress to pass legislation giving them and tens of thousands of other former Filipino fighters the identical pensions and benefits accorded U.S. veterans.

It was Gen. MacArthur himself, the Filipino veterans say, who had vowed that they would receive the same treatment as regular U.S. military personnel. But after the war was won, Congress denied the Filipinos benefits in what the veterans consider an act of betrayal and discrimination.

Local officials, including Mayor Richard Riordan, have expressed sympathy for the aging protesters, who last year constructed a makeshift camp in front of the MacArthur monument, near the corner of Alvarado and 7th streets, just west of downtown. The protest headquarters expanded to include an overhead tarp, desks, tables and chairs, a portable toilet, kitchenette and even a telephone line strung from the street.

City park rangers descended on the encampment Monday, removed the protesters’ belongings and flooded the small pool in front of the MacArthur statue where the protest site stood.

On Saturday, however, police and park rangers steered clear of the knot of protesters, allowing them to return to--and dry out--their site. The protesters carried a U.S. flag and sang “Glory, Glory Hallelujah!” from “The Battle Hymm of the Republic” as a colleague pulled the plug on the water in the pool, and formally reoccupied the site.

A lawyer representing the group said the occupation will remain mostly a “weekend thing.”