Marcos: No deal yet on hosting of Afghans
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines continues to study the request made by Washington to temporarily host Afghan refugees, mostly former employees of the United States government before the Taliban takeover, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Thursday.
Marcos said there is no deal yet between the Philippines and the US on the request as the two countries need to hammer out the legal, logistical and security issues of the plan.
“We continue to study it. Let’s see if there’s a way we can do it without endangering the security of the Philippines,” Marcos said.
The chief executive said that while the Philippines had hosted refugees before, the request of the US was unprecedented.
“These are not refugees. They are an entirely different class of person. They are Afghan nationals who are being settled by the United States in the United States and/or other places. We are only going to be a transition area,” Marcos said.
The Philippines hosts around 264,000 persons of concern—or those identified by the UN Refugee Agency as refugees, returnees, stateless people, internally displaced and asylum-seekers.
Of the figure, 131,000 are internally displaced persons, 129,000 are stateless persons or those at risk of statelessness, and 1,400 are refugees and asylum-seekers. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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