Coloma denies PHL move to push ‘boat people’ back to sea

The Philippines will continue extending humanitarian assistance to the more than 2,000 migrants and refugees abandoned by human smugglers following a crackdown on traffickers by the Thai government, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said Monday.

In a statement, Coloma refuted a Philippine Daily Inquirer report that said the Philippines will push back to sea undocumented Asian “boat people” who will come to its shores.

“The Philippines has extended humanitarian assistance to 'boat people' and had even established a processing center for Vietnamese travelers in the seventies. What was cited in the Philippine Daily Inquirer report (18 May 2015) was a mere restatement of applicable provisions of our existing laws,” he said.

Coloma reiterated the country's solidarity with the United Nations in providing assistance and relief to migrants or people who are involuntarily displaced from their homelands, citing the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to which the Philippines is a party.

“We shall continue to do our share in saving lives under existing and long-standing mechanisms pursuant to our commitments under the Convention,” he said.

On Tuesday, the United Nations appealed to the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations—such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia—not to push back the boats that carry migrants from impoverished Bangladesh and Myanmar, and proceed to rescue them quickly to avoid a “massive humanitarian crisis.”

However, despite the UN appeal, the Indonesian government sent vessels crammed with migrants back to see on Friday, after about 2,500 migrants landed on the archipelago's western shores.

Two boats that crossed the Malacca Strait from the Thailand-Malaysia side have been turned away by the Indonesian navy, and on Friday another was towed out to sea by the Thai navy.

The prime minister of Thailand warned that if more migrants arrived they might steal jobs from Thais and Indonesia's military chief warned they would cause “social issues.”

Malaysia, too, has said it would push migrant boats back to sea following the continuous arrival of vessels washed ashore on its northwest coast over the past week.

According to the Malaysian deputy prime minister on Sunday, it has already taken in 120,000 illegal migrants from Myanmar and wants no more as it is about time that Myanmar takes responsibility of its people. —Bianca Rose Dabu/KBK, GMA News

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