MECO chair Bello in talks for mutual visa-free travel between Taiwan, Philippines

Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairperson Silvestre Bello III said on Friday that he was in talks for a mutual visa-free travel policy between the Philippines and Taiwan.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, Bello said he and his counterpart, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines head Michael Hsu, discussed the matter during their Tuesday meeting.

“Yun nga ang pinag-usapan namin ni Ambassador Hsu noong last Tuesday na pinag-usapan namin yun tungkol sa reciprocity ng visa-free travel ng ating mga kababayan sa kanila at yung kanilang citizens papunta dito,” he said.

(That’s what Ambassador Hsu and I discussed last Tuesday - the reciprocity of visa-free travel for our countrymen to Taiwan and their citizens to our country.)

Bello made the statement when asked if the visa-free travel for Filipinos to Taiwan would be continuous.

“Sa alam ko, hindi pa nga (From what I know, not yet),” he said.

Taiwan first enforced its visa-free policy with the Philippines on November 1, 2017. With this, Taiwan urged the Philippines to reciprocate and grant Taiwanese nationals visa-free treatment.

For Bello, the Philippines had no problems with its relations with Taiwan, especially on trade, business, employment, and culture.

Meanwhile, Bello said he would also work on possible undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan. According to him, there are around 200,000 documented Filipino workers in the country. — DVM, GMA News