GMA to Hanoi: Take back ‘boat people’

The Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to resolve the fate of 1,600 Vietnamese refugees or "boat people," who fled their homeland during the Vietnam War and are housed in refugee camps in Bataan and Palawan.

Before the signing of an agreement, President Arroyo told top Vietnamese officials in Hanoi that the Philippines appreciated their willingness to welcome home the refugees.

"I hope that we can finally resolve the issue of the remaining Vietnamese nationals in the Philippines. To those who wish to come to Vietnam, we hope you would continue to accept them and facilitate the process of their repatriation," she said in a speech.

"Many of them have expressed desire to resettle in the Philippines. We welcomed them because they have proved to be law-abiding and productive members of our community. They are a daily reminder of the friendship and fraternity between the Philippines and Vietnam," the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo also asked Vietnam to fulfill its obligation to buy Philippine products in exchange for the 250,000 metric tons of rice from Hanoi.

Mrs. Arroyo, who arrived in Hanoi yesterday from a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom Penh in Cambodia, is also scheduled to hold talks with Communist Party secretary general Nong Duc Manh, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and the speaker of the National Assembly, Nguyen Van An.

She is to visit the mausoleum of communist Vietnam’s founder, Ho Chi Minh, today before leaving for the economic capital Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, where she is to meet with Philippine businessmen.

Under the agreement, Vietnam will send a mission to the Philippines to determine the identities of the refugees and verify their nationality.

"They are interviewed if they want to return home. The mission determines whether they are Vietnamese and, second, if they have something or someone to return to in Vietnam," Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja Jr. said.

About 1,600 Vietnamese refugees are still living in refugee centers in Bataan and Palawan, and have not been accepted by the host countries in the West where they had applied for asylum.

"They were supposed to go to third-party countries like the United States, Australia and Scandinavian countries but somehow along the way they were not able to fulfill certain requirements for entry," Baja said.

Most of the refugees had already intermarried with Filipinos, he added. They refused to be repatriated in the past for fear of political persecution.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said at least 40 refugees have applied for voluntary repatriation.

Vietnam and the Philippines signed an agreement in Hanoi yesterday, laying the foundations for long-term bilateral cooperation, officials said.

The agreement is included in a framework outlining "Vietnam-Philippine relations for the first 25 years of the 21st century and beyond," the foreign ministry said following talks between Mrs. Arroyo and her Vietnamese counterpart Tran Duc Luong.

The accord covered a wide range of issues including economic and military cooperation. The two countries are to sign an agreement on sports cooperation today, it added.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1976, the Philippines and Vietnam have signed economic cooperation agreements and begun activities in the transport, tourism and education sectors.

Bilateral trade totaled $424 million last year and Vietnam has approved 21 Philippine investment projects worth more than $260 million, according to Vietnamese statistics.

Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong visited the Philippines in 2001 and then-Philippine President Fidel Ramos also made a trip to Vietnam. – With AFP