Afghans and the US request to the Phl

(Conclusion)

Even former president Rodrigo Duterte has weighed in on the issue by making a bold prediction that it would cause “a warp” and urged President Marcos to think twice. For 20 years, over 250,000 people died during the US occupation and according to a UN Resident Coordinator (data from the IDSI), acute hunger in Afghanistan rose from 14 million in July 2021 to 23 million in March 2022, forcing households to resort to “desperate measures” to put food on the table, where a staggering 95 percent of Afghans are not getting enough to eat.

A report from The New York Times also stated that because the economy in Afghanistan has been collapsing, it is now “leading to a mass starvation that is, in turn, creating an enormous and destabilizing new wave of refugees.”

So what then is the real intention behind the request of the US and why only now and by way of the Philippines? I suppose we have yet to find out as a resolution is expected to be taken up when both Senate and House of Representatives meet in the second regular session of the 19th Congress as both chambers convene at the Batasan Pambansa during our President’s SONA.

Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte opposed the request from the United States to allow 50,000 Afghans fleeing their country led by the Taliban to the Philippines prior to their relocation to the US by citing possible national security threats and violations to our country’s sovereignty. The Vice President and education secretary’s position was stated in a letter to the Anti Terrorism Council where she raised her “vehement objection and opposition to the proposal in its entirety” as explained by Education Undersecretary Poa, who also expressed the interference into our exclusive determination as to who can enter our country.

Lastly, with thousands of people still displaced by the Marawi siege and awaiting permanent shelters, I agree with Senator Marcos on the propriety of such a request for Afghan individuals. It is also good to note that the United States has one of the oldest Afghan populations in the Americas since the 1930’s and over the past 20 months, the United States has been able to resettle more than 90,000 Afghans. This year, it has been reported that the United States plans to admit 125,000 refugees; however, it could not determine how many of these would be Afghans.

As a general rule, refugees and immigrants undergo security and immigration screenings at processing facilities in third countries.