Senators have differing opinions on allowing the entry of a limited number of Afghan nationals into the Philippines to process their United States visas.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Philippine and the US governments agreed on allowing Afghan nationals to transit to the Philippines "to complete their visa processing for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) and resettlement to the United States."
In response to this, Senator Imee Marcos who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations posed various questions such as who would be arriving, how many they would be, where they'd stay, if they were prisoners, and if they would go around the country, among others.
"Gaano katagal sila sa atin, alam natin kung gaano katagal ang US visa at umabot ng higit 4 na taon mga pino-process na Afghan? Sa dami ng problema natin, gusto ba talaga nating dagdagan (How long will they stay here, we all know how long it takes to get a US visa and it takes almost four years to process Afghans? With the number of problems we're facing, do we really want to add more?)" she added.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino who has yet to read a copy of the agreement said that he doesn't see anything wrong if they will remain in a confined area for a limited period of 3 months while being processed.
"I don't see anything wrong with that given the country’s historical record of hosting the Russian Jews during the previous World War and the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War for humanitarian reasons," he added.
Ma. Teresita Daza, the spokesperson for the DFA, said that such an agreement will have to be ratified by President Marcos before it becomes effective.
Under the agreement, each Afghan SIV applicant shall be authorized to stay in the Philippines for not more than 59 days.