PH has moral obligation to boat people, says CBCP chief

Despite having no legal responsibility to provide asylum to undocumented Asian “boat people,” the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Tuesday said the country had a moral obligation to welcome the refugees on Philippine shores and protect them from impending harm at sea.

Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop and CBCP president Socrates Villegas. INQUIRER PHOTO

In a statement, CBCP president Socrates Villegas cited the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” in laying out the moral duty to accept refugees: “Any person in danger who appears at a frontier has a right to protection. In order to make it easier to determine why such people have abandoned their country, as well as to adopt lasting solutions, a renewed commitment is needed to produce internationally acceptable norms for territorial asylum.”

Villegas, however, said there was a legal obligation not to forcibly repatriate the “boat people,” seemingly in reference to the country’s signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

“And by all precepts of morality and decency, there is an obligation not to leave them to the mercilessness of the elements on the high seas,” Villegas said.

The Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop also denounced the move of Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand to push the “boat people” back to sea.

“Ironically, the countries that turn refugees away vie with each other for tourists and investors,” he said.

The CBCP chief said the case of the Asian migrants highlighted “artificial boundaries” that people create between themselves.

“If anything at all, the plight of displaced persons and refugees makes clear to us how the artificial boundaries that we establish between ourselves—principally geographical and political boundaries—can in fact become barriers to that hospitality towards the other that makes us human,” he said.

While urging other nations to do the same, Villegas lauded the government’s stand on the Asian migrants after Malacañang vowed to “do what is needed” should the boat people seek refuge in the Philippines.

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“For while our own economic resources may not allow us to welcome every migrant as a permanent resident of our country, still there is always room for the weary and burdened to rest on our shores before they continue on their journey,” he said.

Villegas also recalled the case of the Philippines in the 1970s when it welcomed Vietnamese refugees following the fall of Saigon, saying the Philippines was a “resplendent” land not only because of tourist destinations but also for its hospitality.

“God gives us this chance once more to bind the wounds of body and spirit, warm the hearts and embrace in solidarity our brothers and sisters who come to us from troubled lands,” he said. “Let the Philippines be a place where they can dream of a future of promise, possibly in other lands and where helping hands and generous hearts may make their dreams come true.” RC