AMENDMENT OF PHILIPPINE REHABILITATION ACT OF 1946 60846 HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTIETH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H. R. 2641 and H. R. 2675 BILLS TO AMEND THE PHILIPPINE REHABILITATION APRIL 18, 1947 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1947 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS CHARLES A. EATON, New Jersey, Chairman ROBERT B. CHIPERFIELD, Illinois JOHN M. VORYS, Ohio KARL E. MUNDT, South Dakota FRANCES P. BOLTON, Ohio CHARLES L. GERLACH, Pennsylvania LAWRENCE H. SMITH, Wisconsin CHESTER E. MERROW, New Hampshire WALTER H. JUDD, Minnesota SOL BLOOM, New York JOHN KEE, West Virginia JAMES P. RICHARDS, South Carolina PETE JARMAN, Alabama WIRT COURTNEY, Tennessee THOMAS S. GORDON, Illinois HELEN GAHAGAN DOUGLAS, California THOMAS E. MORGAN, Pennsylvania BOYD CRAWFORD, Clerk AMENDMENT OF PHILIPPINE REHABILITATION ACT OF 1946 FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1947 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. The committee met in executive session at 11 a. m., Hon. Robert Chiperfield, presiding. Mr. Chiperfield (presiding). The committee will come to order. We have under consideration H. R. 2641, introduced by Mr. Bell, and H. R. 2675, introduced by Mr. Welch, bills to amend the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946, as amended. The bills, which are identical, will be included in the record at this point. (The text of the two identical bills is as follows:) [H. R. 2641 and H. R. 2675, S0th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946, as amended Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 101 (b) of the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946, as amended, is amended by inserting after the word "employees," the following: "who shall be entitled to accumulate annual leave to the maximum of ninety workdays, exclusive of the time actually and necessarily occupied in going to and from the continental United States and such time as may be necessarily occupied in awaiting sailing or flight." SEC. 2. Subsection (c) of section 101 of such Act, as amended, is amended by inserting after the words "Commonwealth of the Philippines" the following: "(or the Republic of the Philippines)." SEC. 3. Subsection (a) of section 106 of such Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 106 (a) There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amount of $400,000,000 for the purpose of paying compensation to the extent authorized by this title, and of such sum, not to exceed $16,000,000 shall be available to pay the expenses of the Commission. All moneys heretofore or hereinafter appropriated under authority of this title shall remain available until April 30, 1951." 1 (Text of letter from the Acting Secretary of State with reference to H. R. 2641 and H. R. 2675:) The Honorable CHARLES A. EATON, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, April 15, 1947. MY DEAR MR. EATON: Reference is made to your two letters of March 28, 1947, with which you transmitted copies of H. R. 2641 and H. R. 2675, identical bills, entitled "A bill to amend the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946, as amended," which have been introduced and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Although title I of the Philippine Rehabilitation Act, which the proposed bills would amend, is not the direct responsibility of the Department of State, the Department is greatly interested in all aspects of the problem of the rehabilitation of the Philippines. The first sections of the proposed bills would entitle employees of the Philippine War Damage Commission to accumulate annual leave to the maximum of 90 workdays, exclusive of travel time. The Department is of the view that Congress, in arriving at a decision regarding this proposal, may wish to give consideration to the fact that other United States Government agencies are operating in the Philippines at the present time and that, although the Philippine War Damage Commission is a temporary agency, it may be well to accord similar treatment to employees of all agencies connected with the Philippine rehabilitation program. With regard to section 3 of the proposed bills, which would increase the amount authorized for expenses of the Commission to $16,000,000 from funds already authorized to be appropriated, the Department is of the opinion that favorable consideration should be given to the proposal if Congress considers such a measure necessary for the efficient operation of the rehabilitation program. Subject to these conditions, the Department has no objection to the provisions of the bills. Upon the submission of the foregoing report to the Bureau of the Budget, the Department has been advised that the enactment of the proposed legislation would not be in conflict with the program of the President provided the first section is revised to read as follows: "That section 101 (b) of the Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946, as amended, is amended by inserting after the phrase as may be necessary to carry out its functions' the following: The Commission is authorized, when in its opinion the interests of the Government shall be best served thereby, to allow any employees to accumulate annual leave until it totals not to exceed 90 workdays: Provided, That after the completion of 2 years of service under the Commission in the Philippines such leave shall be exclusive of the time actually and necessarily occupied in going to and from the continental United States and such time as may be necessarily occupied in awaiting sailing or flight.'" Sincerely yours, DEAN ACHESON, Acting Secretary. Mr. CHIPERFIELD. We have Mr. Waring, who will testify on this measure. STATEMENT OF FRANK A. WARING, CHAIRMAN, PHILIPPINE WAR DAMAGE COMMISSION Mr. CHIPERFIELD. Will you give your full name, your address and your background before you begin testifying? Mr. WARING. Mr. Chairman, my name is Frank A. Waring and I am Chairman of the Philippine War Damage Commission. Our main office is located in Manila, in the Philippines. I wish at the outset, Mr. Chairman, to express to you and to this committee my deep appreciation of the opportunity afforded me to appear before you. I am leaving tomorrow afternoon to return to the Philippines, and this opportunity will permit me to give you the attitude of this Commission regarding the legislation to which you have referred. I have here, Mr. Chairman, some pictures of conditions in Manila, which I thought the members of the committee might like to glance at while I am talking. Mr. CHIPERFIELD. Will you state to the committee the purpose of this bill? Mr. WARING. I will. I wonder if I may do that in my testimony. Mr. CHIPERFIELD. Certainly. Mr. WARING. I should like to tell the committee that you have before you two identical bills, one to which the chairman has referred, H. R. 2641, introduced by Mr. Bell, and the other, H. R. 2675, introduced by Mr. Welch. These measures, before they .were introduced by two Members of Congress, were considered very carefully by the Bureau of the Budget and by the Department of State, both agencies approving them. I have discussed with the President himself the most important provisions of the bill dealing with the limitation on administrative expenditures, and he has approved wholeheartedly this legislation. I have also discussed the legislation with the Ambassador from the Philippines, and he has expressed approval of the legislation. The Philippine Rehabilitation Act of 1946 was approved and became a law on April 30 of last year. The Philippine War Damage Commission provided for in that act was organized in June of 1946 to adjudicate the claims of private individuals for the property damaged or destroyed in the Philippines during the war, and of the Philippines Government for public property similarly damaged or destroyed. Since its organization in June, the Commission has adopted its rules and regulations, has printed and distributed its claim forms, has transported its American staff to Manila, and just this morning I received a cable from Manila stating that the first payment on private claims was being made today to a dentist in Manila for dental equipment he has lost during the liberation of Manila in February 1945. It was a partial payment of 500 pesos, or $250. We opened our doors for the receipt of claims on March 1, this year, and claims are now coming in at the rate of 2,000 a day. As a result of our 9 months' operations and experience under the Philippine Rehabilitation Act, it has become apparent that a few administrative amendments are necessary for the efficient function of the commission and it is those that I should like to discuss briefly with you at this time. The first provision calls for an amendment to section 101 (b) of the Philippine Rehabilitation Act. It is proposed to grant the employees of the Philippine War Damage Commission the privilege of accumulating annual leave not to exceed 90 working days, exclusive of time actually occupied while awaiting sailing or flight. Except for the exclusion of travel time, the proposed amendment would provide for the accumulation of no additional annual leave, as |