AFGHANISTAN
It is reported that the US has asked a substantial number of Afghans to stay temporarily in the Philippines while their US immigration visas are being processed.
An application by an Afghan to gain admittance to the US is no guarantee that the application will be successful. What happens to unsuccessful applications? Will they have to stay permanently in the Philippines? Is this acceptable to the authorities here?
Bishop Ruperto Santos, vice chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ of the Philippines episcopal commission for the pastoral care of migrants and itinerant people said the Philippines should come to the aid of the refugees as a signatory to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.
Apparently, however, the intended final destination of the Afghans is the US, not the Philippines. Is it in our interest to act as an uncertain halfway house?
The US proposal to the Philippines is, presumably, negotiable. If so, and if the Philippine government is interested, then there should be a negotiation. We have not heard what conditions have to be met by the US in order for the overall deal to be acceptable to the Philippines. We should not be afraid to negotiate if, in principle, we may be prepared to facilitate the US authorities.
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UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
For many years, the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) has ranked its perception of the ‘best’ universities in Asia. For many years, the University of the Philippines (UP) has ranked as the highest Philippine university in the THES listing.
This year, however, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) was ranked 84th among the best universities in Asia. It was also ranked as the best university from the Philippines.
Unfortunately, UP has fallen significantly in the rankings over the past four years. It ranked 65th in 2020, 84th in 2021, 129th in 2022, and somewhere in the 201st to 250th bracket this year. Is there an identifiable reason for this deterioration in UP’s performance?
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WANTED: FRIENDLIER SKIES
Airlines worldwide have become more articulate about the causes of passenger inconvenience in the past year or so. Cebu Pacific is no exception.
Apparently, it now takes Pratt and Whitney, the manufacturer of the engines used by Cebu Pacific’s planes, as much as nine months to return refurbished engines to the airline. Since these jet engines only last about 700 hours flying time before refurbishment is necessary, this means the airline is experiencing a shortage of serviceable aircraft.
It is good that Cebu Pacific is open about their problems. Our family members used to have chronic problems with the airline which was happy to take our money and book a specific flight, but later found that it could not adhere to its own schedules. Unacceptable alternatives were offered and customer dissatisfaction rose to the point where we no longer considered CEB to be an acceptable airline.
We look forward to friendlier skies in future!/PN
