Reports of influx of Chinese workers raises concern

A union of Filipino workers expressed alarm over the information revealed by Senator Franklin Drilon that there are allegedly over 400,000 foreigners working in the Philippines.

According to Jun Veneracion's report on "24 Oras" on Wednesday, Drilon said it was also reported to him that around 150,000 of these foreign workers could be found in Entertainment City of Parañaque alone.

This alarmed Federation of Free Workers (FFW) president Sonny Matula who said the presence of so many foreign workers in the country threatens the lives of Filipinos who need jobs to survive.

"Alarming din po 'yun at palagay ri po namin ay i-review ng Department of Labor (and Employment)  'yung pagpapa-grant ng mga permits sa mga workers sapagka't hindi lang national security kun'di ang threat diyan, life din ng mga kababayan natin," he said.

Just this year, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested up to 300 illegal aliens, most of whom are Chinese.

"Itong mga illegal aliens na ito, inaagawan po nila ng trabaho 'yung mga Pilipino dito sa ating bansa,' BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.

Data from the BI showed that the number of foreign arrivals continued to increase by the millions in a span of three years, from 10.46 million in 2015 to 14.11 million in 2017.

Data also showed that China was third when it comes to the number of foreign arrivals in 2017 (1.095 million), right behind Korea (1.734 million) and the US (1.089 million).

Permits

Drilon had flagged DOLE over the issuance of more than half of all Alien Employment permits (AEPs) to Chinese nationals in the past two years.

When grilled on its possible impact on employment opportunities for Filipinos, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III explained they "only issue these permits to foreigners if the foreigner performs a job that cannot be performed by a Filipino citizen."

The BI, for its part, said it was intent on cracking down on all illegal aliens regardless of their nationality. —Margaret Claire Layug/JST, GMA News