IF not for Sen. Imee Marcos, most Filipinos would not have known that the government of her younger brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., is studying the possibility of the Philippines playing host to refugees from Afghanistan.
Senator Marcos has filed a resolution calling for an inquiry into the supposed discreet plan to grant the request to provide safe haven for the Americans’ Afghan supporters who are fleeing the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.
The senator, the eldest sibling of the President and chair of the Senate foreign affairs committee, criticized the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) for not informing the public about the June 7 meeting during which the sensitive foreign policy issue was taken up.
The senator added that a memorandum of agreement between the Philippines and the United States to accommodate an undetermined number of Afghans is already being finalized.
‘There is really nothing wrong with helping other people escape persecution and state-sponsored harassment from their own countries. But the matter should not be a secret and should be discussed in the highest circles of government.’
Issuing a clarification about the secretive June 7 meeting, Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez said over the weekend that the plan to accept Afghan refugees is not a secret and has not yet been approved by President Marcos Jr.
Earlier, Malacañang confirmed that the PMS held a “technical coordination meeting” with representatives of various government agencies earlier this week to discuss the US proposal to temporarily house Afghan refugees in the Philippines.
Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil said the meeting was “part of the complete staff work process to ensure timeliness and high standards in the submission of memoranda requiring presidential decision.”
Garafil said the details of the proposal subject of the meeting may be more appropriately discussed by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), even as Ambassador Romualdez assured the public that the meeting was “no secret.”
Only after the presidential sister-senator chastised the ambassador why he was named by the senator’s source in the DFA as the one purportedly been pushing for the Afghan refugee agreement that Romualdez volunteered a few details about it.
“It is a United States (US) request/proposal that has not yet been approved by the President but is under study and review by the different government agencies,” our envoy to Washington said.
It was reported that Romualdez’ endorsement of the policy has been met with vigorous “objections from a majority of DFA and security sectors officials.”
If we welcome Afghan refugees, it will not be the first for the Philippines to do so.
President Quezon hosted Jews from Israel and Europe, who were escaping the Nazi during World War II. President Cory Aquino did the same to refugees from Vietnam while President Joseph Estrada welcomed the idea of accepting refugees from East Timor.
There is really nothing wrong with helping other people escape persecution and state-sponsored harassment from their own countries. But the matter should not be a secret and should be discussed in the highest circles of government.
