Bureau of Immigration INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday said the influx of Chinese workers in the country was “probably because of emerging industries.”
BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval explained in a phone interview with INQUIRER.net that the number of Chinese nationals in the country increased because of the thriving call center and online gaming businesses in the country.
According to Sandoval, Chinese nationals who chose to work in the Philippines increased in 2018.
“It’s probably because of emerging industries, like call centers and online gaming for the Chinese nationals, kaya dumami ‘yung mga Chinese who go here for that,” she said.
But, she added, “I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, since nagkakaroon tayo ng mga industriya na ganito, it improves our economy, it shows that’s there an improvement in our economy, that’s why foreign nationals are attracted to work here.”
Rising presence
Based on BI data, there were 20,956 Chinese nationals holding 9G visa, or the pre-arranged employment visa, in 2017. This figure increased to 22,599 this year.
Amid the Senate inquiry into the proliferation of illegal Chinese workers in the country, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente has directed for a strengthened intelligence division of the bureau.
READ: Tourists from China are ‘illegal workers,’ Senate panel learns
“Recently for the Senate inquiry, nagkaroon ng directive si Commissioner Morente to strengthen our intelligence division, so nag-deploy tayo ng mga intelligence officers nationwide, para may point person per region,” Sandoval said.
Through this, Sanodval noted, the BI’s coordination with local government units (LGUs) and concerned citizens for possible interception of illegal aliens will be made easier.
“Ang mas nakakaalam ng specific areas nila, is the local government units. Kapag may mga kakaibang nangyari diyan, they can easily report to our immigration personnel and our intelligence division can easily monitor, because nandun na,” Sandoval said.
Crackdown vs illegal aliens
The agency spokesperson further said that in the wake of concerns surrounding the influx of illegal Chinese workers in the Philippines, the BI are currently finding ways to intensify its monitoring, not only of Chinese nationals, but of all other nationalities as well.
“Hindi lang naman din siguro sa Chinese, also for other nationalities,” Sandoval said.
However, she admitted the BI lacks personnel to cover all areas nationwide.
“Kasi one of the challenges of immigration is we are short in staff, so we only have around 1900 organic personnel nationwide,” she said.
“It really helps a lot that we receive information from some concerned citizens, LGUs, partner agencies na, malaking bagay po for immigration in ensuring that we catch these illegal aliens,” she added. /kga