A request from the United States to temporarily host Afghan nationals in the country while they are still processing their US Special Immigration Visa (SIV) application is ''currently under evaluation''.

This was announced by Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil in a message Friday.

Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo told a Senate hearing that US President Joe Biden “briefly raised” Washington’s request with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the latter’s state visit to the US.

“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 said.

A Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said that the Philippines and United States are discussing the latter's request.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs confirms that the Philippines is in discussions with the United States regarding Afghan nationals in the last stages of their US Special Immigration Visa (SIV) application," DFA spokesperson Teresita Daza said in a statement on Friday.

Daza noted that "while the proposed arrangement is humanitarian in nature, it will not involve the admission or hosting of Afghan refugees."

"The Philippines has not entered or finalized any agreement with the United States on the matter," she said.

"Consultations with relevant Philippine Government agencies are ongoing," she added.

Manalo said discussions among concerned government agencies have been taking place since October.

Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said this would involve around 50,000 Afghan nationals to be staying in the country by batches. Robina Asido/DMS