Senators have expressed confusion and concern as to why the United States (US) government has chosen the Philippines as the country to temporarily house their allies from Afghanistan.
Sen. Imee Marcos leads the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs' inquiry into the United States government's proposal for the Philippines to host Afghan visa applicants. (Senate PRIB Photo)
According to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Enrique Manalo, US President Joe Biden had “briefly raised” their request with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during the latter’s visit to the US in May.
“The (US) Secretary of State directly raised this to me and on a few occasions verbally and also in a letter. In fact, President Biden also briefly raised the issue with President Marcos during the visit last May,” Manalo told the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, which Senator Imelda “Imee” Marcos chairs, during a hearing on Friday, June 16.
Manalo said the DFA received a formal letter from the US government, which followed up on their request to allow Afghans who were employed by the US and their qualified dependents to temporarily stay in the Philippines.
The request involved processing the Afghan nationals’ Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications with the US embassy in Manila.
PH Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez, who participated in the hearing virtually, confirmed the request, disclosing that the Afghan nationals are said to be locally engaged employees by the US government.
According to Romualdez, the number of Afghanistan nationals that are proposed to be processed is at 30,000 to 50,000 and will come by batches: “They are not refugees…but former employees of the US, and we have been asked if we can accept them.”
Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, however, balked at the idea, pointing out that the Philippines itself is facing a huge housing backlog for its own citizens.
“We are facing a housing backlog of 6.5 million in our own backyard. Shouldn’t we prioritize the needs of our fellowmen first? Given our housing backlog and the rise in cost of living, shouldn’t our limited resources be focused on taking care of our own? What is the fiscal implication of providing temporary housing to these foreign nationals? Will we be shouldering subsistence costs as well?” Estrada pointed out.
Manalo, however, said that all costs would be shouldered by the US government. It is also up to the Philippine government to choose a suitable site where they can be located while they are being processed or vetted.
It is also up to the Philippines to impose mobility restrictions and internal movements in the Philippines.
“The US also committed to us that in the event there are Afghans who come here for the processing that no one would be left behind in the Philippines, and that includes those who may even denied an SIV whom we expect would be removed to another country outside of the Philippines as soon as their maximum allowable period of stay expires,” Manalo said.
Asked by Sen. Francis Tolentino to clarify that the Philippines would not be the final destination of the Afghanistan refugees, Roomualdez replied in the affirmative: “yes, it’s temporary.”
“Ang kinakatakutan ng marami baka malahukan ng mga terrorists (What many fear is that terrorists might be involved),” Tolentino said.
“They will be vetted first and double-checked before they come to the Philippines and then again through processing,” Romualdez responded.
Marcos, however, said she is skeptical over the plan, pointing out that the Philippines may not be prepared for the “enormous migration” and asked why the US government suddenly stopped accepting Afghan nationals in Virginia.
“Bakit sila tumigil, bakit bigla bigla Pilipinas ang naisip (Why did they stop? Why did they suddenly think of the Philippines)?” she pointed out.
“I’m not unwilling to help, like other Filipinos, we have an open-arms policy to all refugees throughout the world at any time. However, it appears to me that we are an unlikely candidate, simply because napakalayo natin (we are too far),”
She pointed out that if the US is unable or unwilling to temporarily accommodate the SIV applicants on US soil, "why don't they consider US territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico, and Guantanamo?"
Manalo stated that aside from being a partner and a treaty ally, the US is also aware of the Philippines' long tradition of providing humanitarian assistance.
But Marcos also pointed it is uncertain whether the government can impose the country’s laws on all the Afghan nationals that will enter Philippine territory.
“And we will sacrifice all that simply because we’d like to accommodate a favor that would probably be better served elsewhere?
“The worry of course, is that elections in the US are ratcheting up and politicians everywhere make dreadful mistakes whether in Washington D.C. or in the Philippines. So with that, we close this hearing, we certainly have not raised all the questions, we’ve raised some of the questions but we’ve certainly raised the level of confusion,” Marcos said at the end of the committee hearing.