Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 3) – If former United States Vice President Joe Biden wins this year’s presidential polls, it will bring more opportunities to Filipino immigrants in America and the Philippines-US relations, a former Philippine envoy to the US stated.
Former Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said the relations between the Philippines and US will be more strengthened under a Biden administration, since the Democratic Party presidential bet favors multilateral trade or trade relations involving three or more countries.
“It’s very possible that he may bring back US in the Trans-Pacific partnership and that will be good for Asia because they want to expand the coalition into a larger bloc,” Cuisia told CNN Philippines’ Rico Hizon on Tuesday.
The former envoy also emphasized a Biden presidency will have a significant impact in the two countries’ military alliance, especially fortifying the military capability of the Philippines amid territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.
“It is part of the “pivot to Asia” program by former President Barack Obama, which was supported by Biden when he was still vice president,” he said.
For Filipino immigrants in America, Cuisia underscored that Biden will implement more relaxed immigration policies compared to the restrictive approach of his opponent and incumbent US President Donald Trump. He also explained the Democrats are more lenient in providing healthcare coverage to immigrants.
“Trump has been against the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. A lot of Filipino immigrants will be affected if Trump continues to push for the stoppage of DACA,” said Cuisia on the US’ immigration policy which protects immigrant children from deportation.
The downside of a Biden presidency, especially if the Democrats get the majority of the US Senate, is it will be more critical in denouncing the human rights situation in the Philippines.
Cuisia added that Trump has been very friendly to President Rodrigo Duterte, despite favoring an alliance with another superpower country China, and ignored all the criticisms of local and international human rights groups over the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines brought by the drug war.
Based on a survey conducted in October, Cuisia said that 52% of Filipino-Americans will vote for Biden while 34% are for Trump. Younger Fil-Ams are mostly voting for Biden because of the Democrat’s relaxed immigration policies.
“In New York and California where the majority of Fil-Ams are, they tend to be more liberal and Democratic voters. In more conservative states, Fil-Ams tend to be more Republicans,” the former ambassador said.
According to the US Census Bureau’s latest 2018 American Community Survey, there are nearly 4.1 million Filipino-Americans residing in America. Almost two million of them are eligible to vote for the 2020 presidential polls which will end on Wednesday morning (Philippine time).
