House bill seeks to grant refugee status to ‘environmental migrants’

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MANILA, Philippines — Five House lawmakers want to amend the country’s immigration law to allow the entry of “environmental migrants” who are seeking protection from climate change-related harm.

In filing House Bill No. 10490, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, Tutok to Win party list Rep. Samuel Vezosa Jr., Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong and Cebu Rep. Pablo John Garcia cited the Pacific islands, with a population of some 65 million people, that were in danger of going underwater in the next decade due to rising sea levels.

Their bill seeks to amend Section 47 of Commonwealth Act 613, or the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, which grants refuge to foreigners only for religious, political, or racial reasons.

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“The Pacific islands of Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Fiji are in imminent danger of being underwater in the next decade due to the rise of sea levels,” the lawmakers said.

Distant relatives

“From now until that perilous period, its people will suffer intense storms, flooding, salination of groundwater and land degradation caused by climate change. We come from the same Austronesian origins hence, they are our distant relatives. In our culture, we do what we can to protect our family,” they added.

Apart from the limitations under the Philippine immigration law, the lawmakers also cited the International Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which restricts refugees to those with a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable, or owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it.”

“We cannot hide from legalistic hair-splitting when people are in imminent threat of drowning. We will not argue [about] who caused climate change, or who should eventually bear the responsibility of sheltering these soon-to-be displaced persons. Ours is an immediate call of humanitarian duty,” they said.

Their bill seeks to insert in the Commonwealth Act a provision authorizing the President to “admit aliens who are environmental migrants from the small island developing states in the Pacific, who seek protection from climate change-related harm, in such classes of cases and under such conditions as he may prescribe.”