Press Release
November 26, 2018

SUMMARY OF POINTS RAISED BY SEN. POE AT THE SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE HEARING

  • Sen. Grace Poe today raised concern over the growing number of undocumented Chinese working in the Philippines as this denies Filipinos to get jobs.

  •  Poe said Chinese and other foreigners should not come in the Philippines "under false pretenses" as she urged the Labor department and the Bureau of Immigration to be more careful in issuing visa extensions to tourists if it meant that they would actually work.

  •  For one, Poe said some Chinese citizens are using illegally obtained Philippine passports to make their way into the Philippines to work.

  •  Atty. Homer Arellano, head of the Immigration bureau's prosecution and legal assistance section, said there were "instances but not that many." He said the government had also even charged some Chinese for illegally using Philippine passports.

  •  The Department of Labor and Employment said Chinese are entering the Philippines as tourists but later obtain special working permits.

  •  The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) said that they have no record of the number of Chinese citizens working in online gaming firms that cater to the mainland even though majority of special work permits the government has issued were for Chinese workers in Philippine offshore gaming operations.

  •  The Department of Foreign Affairs, for its part, said 1.66 million tourist visas were issued to Chinese nationals this year, but only issued 18 employment visas to them.

  •  Poe called on authorities to conduct an investigation within their agencies and "visit" offices that employ Chinese to check if they are properly documented.

  •  Poe said she received reports that Chinese are to be employed as construction workers or contractors in the war-torn Marawi. She insisted Filipinos should come first.

  •  Poe also urged concerned state agencies to tighten regulations on issuance of tourist and work visas to foreign citizens. She warned that if the economy is heavily dependent on the Chinese, the economy may be in peril in the event they pull out of the country.

  •  She said the Philippine government should coordinate with the Chinese government to ensure that people who are entering the country have no criminal record.

  •  On influx of Chinese driving up property prices, Poe said there were superficial market conditions because of the demand for space, particularly for condominiums.

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