Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 6, 1993 TAG: 9303060024
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
SUIT SEEKS SUPPORT FOR FILIPINO CHILDREN
A lawsuit accuses the U.S government of abandoning an estimated 8,600 children fathered by American servicemen in the Philippines and seeks $68 million for their support.The suit, filed Thursday in the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, quoted President Clinton's speech to Congress Feb. 17: "It is time to demand that people take responsibility for the children they bring into this world."
The children were born to prostitutes in Olongapo City, next to the Subic Bay Naval Station that was closed last year.
The lawsuit claims the government had an implied contract with the prostitutes because the Navy from 1945 to 1992 fostered and promoted an "entertainment industry" next to the base.
It said the Navy described the women as "entertainers" and "hospitality women" and provided them with regular health inspections, education and medicine at a clinic jointly sponsored with the Philippine government.
By providing that care, the government made a commitment to continue to provide services to the women and their children, the lawsuit said.
U.S. law treats other Amerasian children as U.S. citizens if the father acknowledges paternity, but not Filipinos.
The rationale is that Amerasians are not discriminated against in the Philippines, a premise disputed by San Francisco lawyer Joseph Cotchett, lead attorney in the lawsuit.
He said the children live in poverty without support from either government.
The Navy has negotiated to clean up toxic damage to the land at Subic Bay, but "nothing is being done to relieve the human damage which was done to those left behind, namely the thousands of forgotten children of American servicemen," Cotchett said in court papers.
The Navy has declined to comment. But U.S. officials have said that not all Amerasians in the Philippines are children of servicemen, noting that more than 100,000 American civilians live in the island nation.