Washington wants to send 50,000 Afghan refugees to the Philippines, but the Manila government opposes it

MANILA (AsiaNews) – Some Philippine officials and politicians have resisted Washington’s request to temporarily host some 50,000 Afghan refugees before they are transferred to the United States. “Although the proposed agreement is humanitarian in nature, it will not involve the admission or reception of Afghan refugees,” the foreign ministry said.

The agreements last October. The request had already been presented in Manila in October last year, explained the Philippine ambassador in Washington and cousin of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez, who stressed that if the request were to be accepted, the United States will cover all costs. Speaking in the Senate, he then specified that these are not refugees, but former US government employees, who will arrive in blocks of about 1,000 people at a time.

There are still 150,000 applications to be examined. With the Taliban’s return to power on August 15, 2021, tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked with the US military or media were evacuated to neighboring Pakistan and other third countries where their applications for a visa to the United States are being evaluated. United. However, the Washington government, after almost two years, still has to examine about 150,000 applications. Pakistan had barred entry to US officials tasked with conducting interviews with refugees by obstructing the establishment of resettlement centres.

Without documents you cannot work or study. Meanwhile, in the last 18 months, the residence permits of asylum seekers who had managed to obtain them regularly have expired. Without documents, Afghans cannot study or work and are arbitrarily sent back to the border or arrested by local authorities, who often extort money from them with threats. Ambassador Romualdez specified that the United States has simply asked for assistance in processing the visas, which will be issued by a special facility in the Philippines.

Espionage threats. While the Manila government has declared that it is evaluating the proposal (a decision should be taken in mid-July), Senator Imee Marcos, the president’s sister and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has launched an investigation into the agreement expressing doubts that some refugees could work as spies for the Americans: “In the last year, espionage and security threats have increased significantly due to the sharp escalation of tension between rival superpowers,” said the senator in a parliamentary hearing. “Doesn’t the fact that the United States no longer wants to host these foreigners within American territory worry us? They argue that the security risk will be very low, that only highly controlled groups will arrive and that the special visa for immigrants is assured, yet they don’t want them,” Marcos continued.

There are fears of “sleeping terrorist cells”. The National Bureau of Investigation and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency have declared that they fear that “sleeper cells” of terrorists could be activated and even the vice president of the Philippines, Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo, has opposed Washington’s request , saying the proposal could undermine the country’s sovereignty: “It appears that the verification process will be carried out by the United States. Therefore, this is an interference in our sole determination of who can enter our country,” a spokesperson for her told the media.