Tens of thousands of Filipinos may beginning working in the United States to aid the recovery efforts in the Philippines from Typhoon Haiyan, reports the Business Mirror.
The possibility became real when President Benigno Aquino formally applied for temporary protected status for undocumented Filipinos in the United States.
“(With President Aquino’s move), we are confident that the Obama administration will now expedite the granting of TPS on humanitarian grounds,” Ed Navarra, chairman of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), said to the Inquirer. “This is an urgent matter that directly affects millions of lives.”
The precedent for TPS has already been set with such designations approved following the devastation of the Haitian earthquake in 2010 and for Syrians due to that country’s civil war.
“Placing the Philippines under TPS will allow eligible Filipinos to stay and work in the US in order for them to assist in the county’s continuing recovery efforts after Typhoon Yolanda that devastated Easter Visayas last month, killing more than 6,000 people and affecting more than 16 million,” Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.
You can read about the further expected impact of TPS in the Business Mirror.
You can read about the surprising delay in getting President Aquino to apply for TPS in the Inquirer.