US only asking PH for short stay for Afghan refugees —Babe Romualdez

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez clarified the US’s request for the Philippines to house thousands of Afghan refugees temporarily, saying that their stay would be at most two weeks long to allow their visas to be processed.

According to Saleema Refran’s report on “Saksi” Monday, Romualdez said Washington is asking Manila to provide special immigrant status to the refugees to help them process their visas prior to their entry into the US.

Under the proposal, the refugees would arrive in the country in batches and  stay for only one to two weeks.

“Mahirap mag-process doon mismo sa Afghanistan dahil iba na yung gobyerno doon, diba? All the expenses related to that one will be borne by the US government,” he said.

(It would be hard to process their visa there because of the change in leadership. All the expenses related to that one will be borne by the US government.)

“Anytime na tingin natin hindi maganda yung sitwasyon, pwede natin i-cancel yung ating agreement sa US anytime,” he added.

(Anytime we think the situation is not good, then we can cancel the agreement anytime.)

Romualdez made the remarks after Senator Imee Marcos questioned the request last week, saying Washington should ask ally countries near Afghanistan.

The envoy also said the request has been made for about a year and was brought up during President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.’s most recent visit to the White House. 

“Dito sa Washington when he was here, tinanong nga ulit sa kanya ni Vice President [Kamala] Harris kung ano na ang sitwasyon ng desisyon natin at sagot naman ng presidente, pinag-aaralan,” Romualdez said.

(He was asked by Vice President Harris during his visit of the current status of this request. The President said he was still studying it.)

The Philippines has long been welcoming refugees. During the administration of Manuel Quezon, the country accepted about 1,200 Jewish refugees.

From 1975 to 1992, the country also admitted 2,700 Vietnamese refugees.

“Naniniwala ako this is a humanitarian cause. This is good for humanity. We are saving families from being persecuted in another country because obviously they work with the US government,” said the envoy.

(I believe this is for a humanitarian cause. This is good for humanity. We are saving families from being persecuted in another country because obviously they work with the US government.) — Sundy Locus/BM, GMA Integrated News