Koko Pimentel: US has bigger, better buildings for Afghan refugees

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday joined Senator Imee Marcos in questioning the request of the US for the Philippines to take in Afghan refugees.

Pimentel said housing the foreigners from Afghanistan was a “good humanitarian act on the part of the Philippines" but added that the question remained as regards the reason behind the US' request.

“My question is: How come the US cannot do all those temporary measures, the processing and the hosting themselves in US soil?" the Senate opposition leader said.

"I’m sure the US has better and bigger existing buildings for this use than us,” he added.

Asked if there was a need to conduct an inquiry on the issue, Pimentel said the chamber may investigate so that the Senate would be more involved in foreign policy matters.

‘Two weeks at most’

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel "Babe" Romualdez on Monday said the US’ request was for the temporary stay of Afghan refugees while their US visas were processed.

He said the stay would be two weeks at most.

According to Saleema Refran’s report on “Saksi” Monday, Romualdez said Washington was 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.)

Senate inquiry sought

Last week, Marcos filed a resolution seeking a Senate inquiry into the supposed request by the US for the Philippine government to allow the admission and temporary housing of foreign nationals from Afghanistan.

Marcos asked why the US opted to house the Afghans in another country and not in their own even though these individuals were “supporters of the US and possibly, even former employees of the US government or US companies.”

The senator said this cast doubts on the character and background of some of these foreigners.

Marcos also questioned the apparent lack of transparency in the government discussions on the issue.

‘Brave Afghans’

In an earlier message to GMA News Online, the US Embassy deferred from issuing a comment on “ongoing diplomatic discussions” and referred media queries to the Philippine government.

"We greatly value our alliance with the Philippines. We are aware of the draft resolution in the Philippines Senate to 'conduct an inquiry... into the proposed temporary housing in the Philippines of SIV applicants from Afghanistan,'" US Embassy spokesperson Kanishka Gangopadhyay said in a statement sent to GMA News Online.

"We regularly talk to our partners on issues of local, regional, and global importance. The Biden administration remains committed to the thousands of brave Afghans who stood side-by-side with the United States over the course of the past two decades," the statement read.

"We do not comment on ongoing diplomatic discussions. We refer you to the Government of the Philippines for further comment," Gangopadhyay added. —NB, GMA Integrated News