Manila Bulletin
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Legality must be established in accepting US request to house Afghan refugees – Gibo
Philippines
National
Legality must be established in accepting US request to house Afghan refugees – Gibo
Legality must be established in accepting US request to house Afghan refugees – Gibo
Published Jun 27, 2023 05:44 am
The government is carefully studying the request of the United States to the Philippines to temporarily house around 50,000 Afghan refugees as the legality of the issue must first be established, Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. said.
*Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. (File photo)
* Teodoro, who is also a lawyer, said the DND is awaiting the opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the matter before it makes security arrangements. “Hinihintay pa namin ang opinyon ng DOJ kung ito ay legal at pwedeng pagbigyan o hindi, kasi kung hindi maaari sa batas ng Republika, ano pang pag-uusapan natin? (We are waiting for the opinion of the DOJ if this is legal and acceptable or not because if this is not allowed under the laws of the Republic, then what is there to talk about?),” Teodoro said in an interview with reporters on Monday, June 26. “Lahat ng gawain natin, kailangan may legal basis tayo. Hindi pwedeng wala (We need legal basis for all of our actions. It’s not possible if we have none),” he added. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it has received a concept note from the US government in October 2022 stating a request for the Philippine government to host Afghan refugees who are employed by the US government while they await the processing of their special immigration visa (SIV). The refugees had to leave Afghanistan when Kabul was seized by the Taliban, an Islamist nationalist movement, in 2021. “Hindi humanitarian ang hinihingi. SIV ito, so iba. Kahit na humanitarian ang rason, inaaral pa rin ng ating gobyerno ang lahat ng implikasyon (This is not a humanitarian request. This is for their SIV so it’s different. And even if it’s for humanitarian reason, our government will still study all the implications),” Teodoro noted. The Defense Chief refused to confirm if among the issues being considered is the possible security implication to the country if the government decides to accept Afghan refugees. But Vice Pres. Sara Duterte earlier opposed the request as she cited possible threat to national security and violations of the country’s sovereignty as among her reasons. The issue, on the other hand, has yet to reach President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., according to Teodoro. “Basically legality muna. Lahat ng implication pag-aaralan natin but at the end of the day, batas ng Republika ng Pilipinas ang masusunod. ‘Yun ang sinusunod natin na batas, hindi batas ng ibang bansa (Basically, we should establish its legality first. All of the implications will be studied but at the end of the day, it’s the laws of the Republic of the Philippines that will prevail. It’s what we are following, not the laws of other countries,” he said, referring to the Immigration Act.