A Significant Presence

(Published in Zamboanga Today on January 21, 2008.)

“They are huge fans of the Filipinos.” This was how US Ambassador Kristie Kenney described the two distinguished visitors of Asia’s Latin City when she presented them before an audience-packed Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology Gymnasium.

A COMBAT HERO

As it was not his first time to be in Zamboanga, Senator Daniel Inouye was warmly greeted by the Zamboangueños who met him on Friday of last week, and the Hawaii-based senator, prior to the turn-over ceremonies, had humbly admitted he was happy to have come over to the city.

The third most senior member of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Dan is known for his “distinguished record as a legislative leader, and as a World War II combat veteran who earned the nation’s highest award for military valor, the Medal of Honor.

As Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Inouye has been able to focus on defense matters that strengthen national security, and enhance the quality of life for military personnel and their families. He has also been able to address important issues such as aviation and maritime transportation that are crucial for Hawaii during his chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Senator Inouye was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962 and is now serving his eight consecutive term. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, he was elected the first Congressman from the new state, and was re-elected to a full term in 1960.

The son of Japanese immigrants, Dan Inouye was born and raised in Honolulu. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the young Inouye rushed into service as the head of a first-aid litter team.

In March 1943, 18 year-old Dan Inouye, then a freshman in pre-medical studies at the University of Hawaii enlisted in the U.S. Army’s 442^nd Regimental Combat Team, the famed ‘go for Broke’ regiment of soldiers of Japanese ancestry. In 1944, Inouye’s unit was sent to the French Vosges Mountains after nearly three months in the Rome Amo campaign. In France, Inouye’s first unit spent two of the bloodiest weeks of the war rescuing a Texas Battalion surrounded by German forces.

Back in Italy, the 442^nd saw further combat and Inouye sustained serious injury to his right arm which he eventually lost. In 1947, he was honorably discharged and returned home as a Captain with a Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star, and Purple heart with cluster. His Distinguished Service Cross was recently upgraded to a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military valor. He received that medal from President Bill Clinton on June 21, 2000.

He went to college on the GI Bill, and by 1953 had become a lawyer. Returning to Hawaii from Washington, Inouye served as a Deputy Public Prosecutor for the City of Honolulu. He broke into politics in 1954 during the ‘Democratic Revolution’ with his election to the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives. In 1958, he was elected to the Territorial Senate. A year later, Dan Inouye was elected to the U.S. House.”

PUBLIC SERVANT FOR 6 DECADES

On the other hand, it was the first time for Sen. Theodore Stevens, whose career in public service began six decades ago, to be in Asia’s Latin City.

“During World War II, he joined the Army Air Corps and flew support missions for the Flying Tigers of the 14^th Air Force. Stevens was awarded numerous medals for his service, including the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After returning home from the war, Stevens completed degrees at UCLA and Harvard Law School. In the early 1950s, he practiced law in Alaska before moving to Washington, DC to work in President Dwight Eisenhower’s administration.

Stevens subsequently returned to Alaska and was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives in 1964. In his second term, Stevens became the House Majority Leader.

Stevens was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1968. Ten years later, Alaskans chose Senator Stevens to finish his term in a special election mandated by state law. He has since been reelected six times.

Today, Senator Stevens is the senior member of Alaska’s congressional Delegation, the senior Republican in the U.S. Senate, and the longest serving Senator in the history of the Republican Party. He serves as the Senate’s President Pro Tempore Emeritus, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Co-Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, and Ranking member of the Disaster Recovery Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee.” (The above information on the two senators were provided by the US Embassy Public Affairs Office.)

A SIGNIFICANT PRESENCE

The arrival of the two American legislators was a very significant visit. Before the academic community of Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology during a formal turn-over of a computer laboratory, Inouye was stating that his coming over was part of his and fellow lawyer Stevens’ “learning” experience.

From one perspective, one sees the delivery of information technology infrastructure to a state college’s high school department where most of the students come from the middle to low economic classes. It was another stamp of American support to the education programs in Zamboanga, vis-à-vis the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partner MEDCO through the Growth with Equity in Mindanao’s (GEM) Computer Literacy and Internet Connection (CLIC) Program.

From another point of view, it was a declaration of “confidence in the future” of Zamboanga’s youth, as pronounced by US Ambassador Kristie Kenney herself, who missed the traditional dinner hosted by the President of the Philippines in Malacañang Palace for the diplomatic community, for this official trip.

But one must not be too naïve to note that the two distinguished gentlemen, being heads of the US Senate Defense Appropriations Sub-Committee, came over only to “learn” as “huge fans of Zamboanga” but surely, they must have come to check on the visiting forces in Camp Basilio Navarro as well.

The US Congress has a very significant role in the fight against global terrorism, as it is the government body back in America that decides on the funds that would be appropriated for the US military as well as for the defense programs to include those that are outside of US territories. And Senators Inouye and Stevens very well represented that august body in coming over to the Philippines, where the US and the Philippine militaries have an upcoming military and humanitarian exercises in certain parts of the country.

Balikatan 2008 is soon to begin by February, and the official dates that would cover the annual exercises for this year are not yet defined by our Department of National Defense (DND). This means another group of US soldiers will be coming over for the exercises that would only last for four to six weeks in Sulu and Basilan. At one point, this would mean added infrastructure (roads, bridges, school buildings, and wells) built for the community people in indigent and conflict-sensitive areas under the engineering civic action programs. In addition, this would entail more medical missions jointly participated by local volunteer groups, the Department of Health and other non-government organizations. But another salient point that the annual Balikatan exercises bring is their more lasting contributions to the economy through year-long programs that are carried out by the USAID, and supported by the US Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines.

At the school visit in Rio Hondo on January 18, JSOTFP commander Col. William Coultrup was quietly seen at the background (joining the ZSCMST students who were clueless who they were asking to have a picture with)—nary a word though, on the upcoming Balikatan 2008.

But in sum, the senatorial visit was highly significant. City Mayor Celso Lobregat met the dignitaries and welcomed them to the city that legislatively adopted Ambassador Kristie Kenney and officially named her ‘Hija de Zamboanga’. (Frencie L. Carreon)