Zoilo ” Bingo” Dejaresco III I June 5, 2023 l Manila Bulletin
Being the only Christian nation in the Far East, whether our economy is good or bad, the Philippines has always played good Samaritan to our neighbors in distress.
Distressed by the brutality of their respective governments, poverty, or climate disasters, our forsaken foreigner- brethren have always been welcomed to our shores. The Catholic Church was also a leading proponent of such a benevolent policy.
The Immigration Law in 1940, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1951 Refugee Clause, and the 1967 Protocol and International Covenant on Human and Political Rights, we are signatories to these documents.
Besides, the world just observed “World Refugee Day” last June 30. Can any time be better for us to look with benign respect to the request for sanctuary by 60,000 Afghans? Why?
Because Afghan is a uniquely devastated country. It went through an internal war from 2001- 2021 (longer than the vicious Vietnam War). The US and Allied Forces were in power from 2001-2014 to quell the Taliban-Islam Republic carnage. Between 2015-2021, the Afghan government was allowed to partially rule the country with a 2014 Phase Out plan for the US to exit Afghanistan by 2021.
When the US left, the unruly Taliban overthrew the Islamic Republic and established a new Islamic Emirate. It has been a rapid downturn from then- with the savagery and vengeful nature of the Taliban turning the country upside down.
Due to the bitter internal strife, by 2021 3.7M Afghans had fled as refugees -85 percent of who went to Pakistan and Iran. Now, only 20 percent of these refugees were male, the rest were: 57 percent children and 21 percent women. By no means is it a dangerous ratio.
Afghan is now a howling wilderness of woes- the United Nations reported that before the US left in 2020, there was 47 percent poverty incidence in Afghanistan’; by 2021 it was a horrifying 97 percent who were below the poverty line. Most want to leave that god-forsaken country.
After a recent Manila- Washington confab, we are considering granting a temporary shelter for 60,000 Afghans until the US finishes its complicated visa and immigration requirements. These 60,000 are in no way terrorists but highly educated and accomplished people, many of who had earlier worked with US facilities while Americans.
There is no line in the Constitution that we see being violated by admitting the Afghans here. If our legislators can just so easily pass committing P500-Billion for a dubious Maharlika Fund whose returns are never certain, what is so burdensome about this- an act of charity that will give actual aid to those in need in a burning country like Afghanistan?
We are sure with the humongous “intelligence funds” of many agencies, they can easily vet whether any of these 60,000 are terrorists or inclined for mayhem. If terrorism infiltration is a concern. Let’s look at our history with refugees.
In 1937, RP President Manuel Quezon accepted 30,000 European Jews, escaping the harm of Adolf Hitler (mostly Israelis) accepted and being housed in Marikina.
In gratitude, there stands to this day in Tel Aviv (capital of Israel) a monument of Quezon and in recognition of the kindness of the Philippines.
Meantime, in 1937, escaping the purge of another strongman Mao Tse Tung in China were 30,000 Kuomintang Chinese many of whom were slowly given naturalization papers in the country over the coming years.
On the other hand, eluding the scary Bolshevik Revolution, 6,000 Russians (upon appeal of the International Refugee Office) were accepted by President Elpidio Quirino and given a home on the Tubarao Island off Samar. The Philippines was the only country in the world (at that time) that accepted the Russians
At the height of the bloody Vietnam War, the Philippines relocated some 2,700 boat-riding Vietnamese to some islands in Palawan. Into the 1980s, the country worked with the UN Human Rights group to relocate 400,000 Indo-Chinese boat people in war-torn Cambodia and Laos (housed in the Philippine Refugee Processing Center in Morong, Bataan) to countries like the US, France and Canada and Australia.
In the year 2000, PH accepted 600 East Timorese refugees while in 2015 ( President Noynoy), and the (300) Muslim Rohingyas who expelled from violent Myanmar.
Right now, this lovely history of benevolence and compassion of the Philippines will be tested with this request from the distressed 60,000 Afghans.
We must not forget that our country also suffered centuries of subjugation by foreign nationals (and some brutalization in some instances) and today- over 10 million of our countrymen have now been happily accepted as worker-citizens in foreign lands as OFWs.
This should make us realize that “no man is an island” and the world is too small to make us stingy with our goodwill and be an Uncle Scrooge in our generosity. Please accept the Afghan refugees. Shalom!
*** (Bingo Dejaresco, a former banker, is a financial consultant and media practitioner. He is a Life and Media member of Finex. His views here, however, are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Finex. Dejaresocbingo@yahoo.com)