No, there isn't. In fact, a number of bills have been tabled, and the community has been asking the Philippines to please grant them permanent residency, but we have never been successful. If you go to page 5 of the submission, right after the letter from the Bureau of Immigration there is a letter from the House of Representatives to the U.S. in 2003. In paragraph 3 it says, among other things, “For those Vietnamese who have been stateless for 13 years...”.
The bill has never passed second reading in the House of Representatives. They need to pass a special law, and as you can understand, it takes a long time to pass a law. It usually takes about nine years, as the House of Representatives has indicated, in the Philippines because the political situation is always volatile. There was one time when we had the bill up to second reading of the House, but then President Estrada was kicked out of office. We had another bill in the House when President Arroyo was in office, and he was faced with a coup. Then we had an election and a new committee came in.
So right now there is no bill allowing for the Vietnamese to become permanent residents. In fact, that's why they have been stateless for 17 years. Had someone tried hard enough, the situation wouldn't have lasted until now. We have tried our best in the Philippines, but to the best of my knowledge, it's easier for the resettlement countries--Australia and the U.S.--to change their policies than for the Philippines to pass its laws.