A plane carrying Afghan nationals bound for resettlement in the United States arrived Monday in the Philippines where they will be temporarily housed until their visas are processed within a 100-day period, Philippine and US officials said.
Senior officials from the two countries, who spoke to journalists in a briefing in Manila but asked not be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the Afghans worked for the US government in Afghanistan or are those considered eligible for US special immigrant visas but were left behind when Taliban militants once again seized control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Only 300 applicants would be accommodated in the Philippines under the one-time deal, they said.
“This is a 100-day agreement,” the Philippine official said. “It will be terminated at the end of those 100 days.”
Each applicant has already been vetted, passed medical screening and given a Philippine visa. They shall be authorized to stay in the Philippines for no more than 59 days upon arrival and will be confined in an unnamed facility unless they are called to the US Embassy for their visa application, officials added.
“Processing of each applicant by the US Embassy here should be completed within that 59-day period,” the Philippine official said.
The US State Department official, on the other hand, assured that it will not affect visa operations at the US Embassy in Manila.
“It won’t affect anybody’s schedule. We don’t want to have any impact on normal operations,” the official said.
Should an applicant’s visa application be stalled or rejected, officials said the Afghan national “will be promptly relocated to another platform or to another country.”
Following a request from Washington in 2022, an agreement for the temporary arrangement was signed on July 29, 2024 and was approved President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on September 25 the same year amid initial concerns from local lawmakers over potential security and legal issues. Both officials clarified that these Afghan nationals are not refugees or threats to security.
“These are not dangerous refugees. These are individuals that had long extensive and secure cooperation with the US over the years in Afghanistan,” the Philippine official said.
Under the arrangement, the US government will shoulder the costs for the stay of the Afghans, including housing, security, food, medical and transportation expenses.
The officials did not provide the exact location of the facility where they will be billeted, but said applicants in the temporary homes would receive adequate social, educational, religious and other support while their visas are being processed.
“We’re very concerned about a lot of kids. It’s mostly kids and we’re going to try to keep the location as quiet as possible,” the US official said.
Previously, Washington through a State Department statement thanked the Philippine government “for supporting Afghan allies of the United States,” adding that it “appreciates its long and positive history of bilateral cooperation with the Philippines.”
Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez said providing assistance to the Afghan nationals was a “longstanding commitment” made by the Philippines to the US during President Marcos’ visit there in May 2022.
He also cited the Philippines’ historical tradition of providing sanctuary to refugees in the past.
In his meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, Romualdez said Marcos conveyed that his government “will do what we can to help in the relocation of Afghan nationals to the United States almost similar to what we did for Vietnamese refugees in the late seventies.”
“That is the right thing to do,” Romualdez told GMA News Online. —KG, GMA Integrated News
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