BEIJING – Chinese can work in the Philippines but only when the job could not be done by Filipinos, said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III yesterday.
“Those illegally working in the Philippines should be dealt with accordingly and must be made to follow the law,” Bello added.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) chief maintained that Filipinos should be the priority for available jobs in the Philippines.
Several Chinese who are reportedly working in the Philippines illegally entered the country as tourists.
For his part, Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said the issue has to be solved.
The problem has to be jointly tackled by the DOLE, Department of Tourism (DOT) and Bureau of Immigration (BI), he said.
“If it’s illegal, you have to crack down on what’s illegal. If it’s… if there are loopholes, you have to plug the loopholes. We are encouraging tourism right now, so we issue tourist visas here. But they are stamped not for employment,” Sta. Romana noted.
Of the 7.1 million tourist arrivals in the Philippines last year, the Chinese account for 1.2 million, second to South Koreans.
Sta. Romana attributed the increase in the number of Chinese tourists to the aggressive drive of the DOT as well as China’s lifting of its travel warning on the Philippines.
“(The) agencies that bring the tourists into the Philippines should also be able to bring them back to China in that way those tourists could not get work permits and stay longer in the country,” Sta. Romana said.
Meanwhile, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said seeing a huge number of foreigners does not mean they are illegally staying or illegally working in the country.
“Chinese nationals running out of buildings (during last Monday’s earthquake) do not necessarily mean they are illegal workers,” Sandoval said
The BI relies on intelligence information and formal complaints in tracking down foreigners who are illegally staying in the country, she said.
“We act on reports of illegal foreign nationals that are working without proper permits,” Sandoval added.
The BI official also clarified that her bureau is not singling out a particular nationality in its campaign against illegal foreign workers.
“Illegal foreign workers are arrested regardless of their race,” she noted. – With Evelyn Macairan