If refugees from Syria and other areas of conflict start arriving at our shores, then that really leaves us no choice but to accept them and do what we can to integrate them into Philippine society. But that doesn't mean we have to actually advertise our willingness to accommodate them. Unfortunately, that is precisely what our Noynoy Aquino did.
There is a whale of a difference between opening the door to someone already at the doorstep and actually going out into the street to stop every bus or jeep to invite everyone for a cup of instant noodles. One is a measure of kindness, the other foolishness. For Noynoy to mistake one for the other only betrays shallowness in formulating policies.
If Europe is opening up to refugees, it is because it is the destination of choice for Syrian and other refugees. In other words, it has been backed into a corner from which there is no escape. But Noynoy doesn't have to beg for the hot potato to fall on his lap. The Philippines doesn't have the means and the wherewithal to back up the confidence and the assurances that an Angela Merkel or a David Cameron can make in light of the refugee crisis.
Besides, it is not as if European countries are falling all over themselves to become the final destination of these refugees. The truth of the matter is, they are all at wit's end trying to determine what to do with the unexpected tide of humanity flooding inland from the shores of Greece and Italy. With the world watching, Europe is trying to project a picture of openness. But there is no escaping the testiness in the language of their leaders. Civility is on the brink of open conflict.
There is even a very serious matter that nobody in Europe is openly tackling for the time being but which will certainly erupt to the fore eventually -- the security threat posed by the tens of thousands of young, able-bodied men whose sudden arrival in Europe has not undergone the slightest and most cursory of checks the more stringent and diligent versions of which usually greet normal arrivals at the official European entry points.
It is not surprising that the natural and innate ability of people to feel sympathy and compassion for their fellowmen has allowed security matters to be relegated to the backburner of state concerns. Besides it is not good p.r. for any country to subject cold, hungry and nervous refugees to stringent security measures and background checks, especially if the world that is watching is hundreds or thousands of miles away and is not in the same predicament as Europe.
But have you seen all the video footages of the refugees in any and all of the international news channels? If you have not exclusively focused your attention to the young children and their anxious parents you will likely notice the entirely different demeanor of the younger men and teenaged boys. They seem to be completely at ease -- they laugh a lot, they smoke a lot (which means they have money), and they move around in peer groups instead of being with family. Are they with family?
Okay, boys will be boys. But the point is, they do not seem to be suffering from any sort of anxiety or difficulty. This is not to belittle the ordeal they have all undergone. But the point is, once ashore and on the move inland, they sure are not acting like lost refugees. Some are not even real refugees fleeing places of conflict but are migrants supposedly in search of work. I apologize if I sound insensitive. But I think Europe in being had by some of them.
I know a lot of Filipinos with sad and sorry tales about how difficult it had been for them to even scratch the surface of legitimate entry to Europe in honest search for better opportunities. Yet here comes this sudden tide of humanity crashing upon the shores of Europe with no one even subjecting anyone to any formal determination of age or name.
So what is my problem? My problem is this -- Europe is not exactly having a party. It is in a situation that it would rather not be in if given a choice. And yet here comes our Noynoy, apparently thinking it hip to be in the limelight over the refugee crisis the way Cameron and Merkel are, actually inviting refugees to come over. What is Noynoy thinking? But then again, does he even think?