EDITORIAL - Foreigner criminals not welcome

Last Wednesday, policemen in Manila arrested a Malaysian national for allegedly selling International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers; these are devices that mimic official cell towers so that nearby phones will link to them.

Police suspected that Thiang Choon Wee headed a syndicate that supplies IMSI catchers for use in text scams. He was allegedly selling them to parties that were planning to use them during the campaign period to influence votes.

Just yesterday, policemen in Muntinlupa City arrested Vietnamese national for allegedly selling drugs. He reportedly catered to Vietnamese and Chinese clients here and delivered drugs hidden in food to be delivered to his clients. Aside from drugs, he also allegedly supplied sex workers, two of whom were rescued during the same operation.

There was no information regarding how long Wee had been staying in the Philippines. On the other hand the Vietnamese suspect, who remained unidentified as of this writing, has reportedly been here for some years now on a tourist visa. He was reportedly running the operation along with his brother who was able to escape during the police operation.

How are foreigners with the intent to set up criminal enterprises in our country just able to enter freely? We know those two mentioned above aren’t isolated cases because it would seem other foreigners have been free to come in here to set up their own Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) business in the past, POGO operations that actually branched out into criminal activities like scamming, prostitution, and even kidnapping.

And so with this it would seem that authorities don’t just have remnant and clandestine POGO operations to worry about when it comes to foreign criminals operating here, but other criminal enterprises as well.

This goes without saying that the government must do better to make sure the foreigners who come here are here for legitimate matters like tourism, business, or studies. Coming here to see and experience the Philippines is one thing. Coming here to set up a criminal enterprise is a different thing entirely