Police raided on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, a Pasig City-based company allegedly engaged in illegal online gambling with mostly Chinese workers whose employment status is under question. (Photo courtesy of NCRPO)
President Rodrigo Duterte, while believing illegal Chinese workers in the country should be deported, said the government should be careful in doing so as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) may suffer the same fate.
Duterte made the remark on Tuesday as the Senate conducted a probe into the influx of illegal Chinese workers in the country.
“They should be deported,” he told reporters in Bohol. “But in the same manner, you should be careful because when you point to the Chinese you also point to yourself, at us.”
“There’s so many thousands of Filipinos working there,” he added. “Remember: It’s not just exploiting the story about the Chinese here, we’re doing the same thing. In Malaysia, a lot of our women are there, in Indonesia, in China, in Korea.”
The President insisted that the arrival of illegal Chinese workers here was “not okay.” But he said that there should be an arrangement between the two countries in solving the matter.
Duterte also cautioned of getting “rough” on the issue as there was a possibility that our OFWs might be put to peril.
“If you think that you’re at the disadvantage because there are so many Chinese nationals here, remember that we have the equal amount of Filipinos working in China,” he said.
“Wala naman silang dineport so maybe you can just tell them to go home otherwise when you get rough on this issue there’s a distinct possibility that it will also happen to you. You know when you sail your ship of state you avoid turbulent waters,” he added. /atm