MANILA, Philippines – Nine months after first making a request, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario pressed American officials to grant the immigration relief expected to help 200,000 undocumented Filipinos in the United States.

Del Rosario also said a temporary protected status (TPS) will help the Philippines rise from Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which devastated central Philippines nearly a year ago and thrust the country in its biggest reconstruction effort after World War II.

In a statement Thursday, September 25, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Del Rosario made this appeal in a letter to his American counterpart, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.

Del Rosario said a TPS will help around 200,000 undocumented Filipinos in the US, as it will allow them to work there legally for 18 months.

“Many of my countrymen in the US were affected by Typhoon Haiyan. This humanitarian assistance would provide temporary relief for them from the natural disaster,” Del Rosario said in the letter dated Monday, September 22.

To ‘ease strain’ on Philippines

Quoting Del Rosario, the DFA said a TPS will “also greatly ease the strain placed on the country’s infrastructure and resources” by Yolanda.

“I take this opportunity to once again reiterate the Philippine government’s request for the US government’s immediate positive consideration of the request,” Del Rosario told Kerry and Johnson.

Del Rosario met Filipino-American community leaders on Wednesday, September 24, to assure them of the Philippine government’s support in seeking a TPS.

“We stand with you on this issue,” Del Rosario told them, adding that he will “personally follow up” on the Philippines’ request when he meets with US officials Thursday.

The Philippines formally requested the US on December 13, 2013, to place it under TPS.

In a statement in December 2013, Del Rosario said placing the Philippines under TPS “will allow eligible Filipinos to stay and work in the US in order for them to assist in the country’s continuing recovery efforts” after Yolanda.

Philippines’ ‘lukewarm support’

The US places a foreign country under TPS “due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely or, in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately,” according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

The US usually places a country under TPS because of the following “temporary conditions” in the country: 

• “Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war)”

• “An environmental disaster (such as earthquake or hurricane), or an epidemic”

• “Other extraordinary and temporary conditions”

Quoted by the Philippine Information Agency on Monday, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr said the US “has to look at the conditions very carefully to consider whether the Philippines qualifies or not.”

Filipino workers in New York, for their part, urged Philippine President Benigno Aquino III to push for the TPS as he visits the US. One of them, Damayan coordinator Linda Oalican, blamed the Philippine government’s “lukewarm support” for the US’ delay in granting the TPS request. – Rappler.com