(UPDATE) UP to 300 Afghans — half of them children — arrived in Manila on Monday to complete the processing of their special immigrant visas (SIVs) required for their immigration to the United States, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
The Afghans, who arrived in one batch, will be temporarily housed in an undisclosed US-funded facility. They were supposed to arrive on Saturday, Jan. 4, but bad weather in Kabul delayed their flight to Manila.
The plane that transported the Afghans landed at Clark International Airport in Pampanga, sources told The Manila Times.
“This is a long standing commitment we made during the official visit of President Marcos to Washington D.C. in May 2022 that we will do what we can to help in the relocation of Afghan nationals to the United States,” Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said.
This is “almost similar to what we did for Vietnamese refugees in the late seventies,” Romualdez said in a text message. “It’s the right thing to do,” he added.
DFA spokesman Ma. Teresita Daza, in a statement, said the government “issued the appropriate Philippine entry visa to these applicants in line with current rules and regulations.”
IN MANILA Up to 300 Afghans arrived aboard a chartered flight on Jan. 6, 2025, to complete the processing of their US Special Immigrant Visas for their immigration to the United States. PHOTO FROM THE US EMBASSY
“All applicants completed extensive security vetting by Philippines national security agencies. They also underwent full medical screening prior to their arrival in the Philippines,” Daza said.
A US State Department official and a senior Philippine government official, who both requested anonymity, shared the information about Manila’s hosting of the concerned individuals from Afghanistan during a briefing in December 2024.
The State Department’s Office of Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) will operate the housing facility.
The Afghans are not allowed to leave the CARE facility. The only time they can leave the CARE facility is when they need to travel to the US Embassy in Manila for their visa processing.
Manila entered into an agreement with Washington to host the Afghans, who are “not refugees and security risk,” the same Filipino official stressed. This agreement was signed on July 29, 2024 and ratified by the president on Sept. 25, 2024.
“The whole project is expected to be finished within 100 days from the arrival of the first applicant. But each applicant shall be authorized to stay in the Philippines only for no more than 59 days,” he said.
It will cover only a group of 300 applicants, “all of whom should be processed and relocated, removed in no more than 100 days” from the date of their arrival, he said.
Meanwhile, the US senior official said, “These are people we know, these are people we trust, and these are people that we owe the opportunity in the US.”
“We’re very grateful to you, this government, you, Filipino people, for helping us to fulfill our promise to them that we would give them a pathway to another opportunity and safety,” he said.
The Filipino official also highlighted the “five nots” about the Philippines’ hosting of the Aghans for two months.
“These are not refugees. So, there’s been a lot of stories that these are dangerous refugees. These are individuals, families with whom the United States government has had long, extensive and secure cooperation with over the years in Afghanistan,” he said.
“These are individuals who have been deemed at the highest levels of vetting to be eligible for special immigrant visa into the United States,” the official said.
Secondly, this is not a permanent agreement. “This is an agreement for the temporary hosting of SIV applicants here in the Philippines. It will terminate at the 100-day mark after the arrival of the first applicant,” he said.
“The other thing also is that this was never a demand on the part of the United States. This was a request. This was a joint project that we had with the US government,” he said.
He added, “And there was never any pressure. There was never any negotiating leverage exercised with us in regard to this particular project.”
“Fourth, this will not be a burden on the Filipino people or on the Philippine government. All costs for the sustainment of the applicants while they are in the Philippines will be fully borne by the United States,” he said.
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