Philippines president: No deal yet on housing Afghan refugees

There is no deal yet on the request made by the United States to house Afghan nationals in the Philippines as studies are ongoing regarding its impact, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said Thursday.

Marcos said the Philippine government has to be conscious on the security issues if the US request will be granted, GMA Network reported.

“There are many issues involved… That’s why I was a little surprised when I saw some of the news reports that there’s a deal between the US… there’s no deal, we’re still looking exactly how to make it work if we can,” Marcos said.

“We will continue to study it. Let’s see if there’s a way we can do it without endangering the security,” he added.

The request was briefly raised by US President Joe Biden with Marco during the latter’s visit to Washington last May, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo.

“The secretary of state directly raised this to me on a few occasions verbally and also in a letter…and in fact, President Biden also briefly raised the issue with President Marcos during the visit last May,” Manalo told senators during an inquiry on the matter on June 16.