Schools in Cagayan have assured that Chinese students enrolled in institutions in the province have proper paperwork. 

This after Third District Representative Joseph Lara called for an investigation into the increase in the number of Chinese students in Tuguegarao City. In a DZWB interview, Lara said he received reports from his constituents that about 4,600 Chinese students are studying in a university, prompting questions about the sudden influx. 

“It’s not a question po… na against po tayo sa mga foreign student. Ang iniisip lang po natin… bakit all of a sudden ‘yung mga influx nga po ng Chinese students dito? At isang pinapangamba po ng bawat isa sa amin dito [is] considering na merong issue tayo ngayon sa bansang China,” Lara said.

FORUM

In a public forum, higher education institutions assured the legality of paperwork for the Chinese students studying in the Cagayan province.

Dr. Susan Mari Perez, President of the University of Cagayan Valley, said the discrimination against foreign students is unwarranted.

“We cannot discriminate just because the other students are foreigners. Internationalization… I will tell you, the process is very rigorous, the same way that foreign students also face rigorous process[es],” Perez said.

Some universities have been accepting foreign students since 1994, such as Saint Paul University Philippines (SPUP), where students from various countries pursue degrees in nursing, civil engineering, and graduate studies.

“SPUP has always been very crucial in terms of accepting foreign students. We really do due diligence when there are foreign students applying to us; and most importantly, they have to submit documents that required by EO 285, and also enshrined in Joint Memorandum Order No. 1 Series of 2017,” Dr. Jeremy Godofredo Morales, Focal Person for Foreign Relations at SPUP, said.

President Rev. MacWayne Maniwang of the University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao affirmed the Philippines' ability to compete in education quality.

Maniwang added that their partnerships with universities in China are unaffected by issues in the West Philippine Sea.

“We have a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) with [the school] in China… [We are] geared towards internationalization, we cannot go away with internalization… We just deployed 20 students to Thailand, if we [do] not go into internationalization, we will be lagging behind,” Maniwang said.

SECURITY

The provincial government, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines said that despite the increasing number of foreign students, reaching up to 4,000 in the Cagayan province, there are no security threats.

“So as far as Tuguegarao City Police Station is concerned, there are no monitored suspicious or even recorded untoward incidents involving Chinese nationals,” PLTCOL. Jonalyn Tecbobolan, Chief of PNP Tuguegarao, said.

In the end, they emphasized that the Cagayan province is open and safe for all students, whether Filipino or foreign.

Cagayan is among the new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites with the United States (US), and it shares proximity with Taiwan.