AT HOME IN MANILA Chinese workers walk past posters showing images of home as they begin the day’s work on the China-funded Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila. INQUIRER file photo / JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines – At least 70 percent of Filipinos are worried by the rising number of Chinese workers in the country, a survey from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released on Thursday showed.
Aside from that, the SWS survey also observed that more than half of Filipinos — 52 percent — consider the increased presence of Chinese individuals in the country as a threat to national security.
“The Third Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey, conducted on September 27-30, 2019, found that 70% of adult Filipinos are worried about the rising number of foreign Chinese workers in the Philippines,” SWS said in a statement.
According to SWS, 1,800 adult respondents from Balance Luzon and Mindanao (600 each) and Metro Manila and Visayas (300 each) were asked on how many Chinese foreigners are working in their locality, on whether they are concerned over the increased Chinese presence, and if they consider the presence as a threat to national security.
For the first question, only 12 percent of the respondents said there are several Chinese workers in their area, followed by 19 percent who said there are somewhat many. Meanwhile, 25 percent and 44 percent said there are very few and almost none, respectively.
However, most still agree that the Chinese workers are a threat to security — especially among those who said that there are many Chinese workers in their area.
For the respondents who said that there are very many workers, 61 percent said they are “worried a great deal.”
“For the third question, the survey found that 27% strongly agree and 25% somewhat agree that the increasing number of foreign Chinese working in the Philippines is a threat to the country’s overall security, while 14% somewhat disagree and 13% strongly disagree. Twenty-one percent are undecided about the matter,” SWS said.
“Among those who are worried a great deal about the increasing number of foreign Chinese workers in the Philippines, their net agreement that ‘The increasing number of foreign Chinese working here in the Philippines is a threat to the country’s overall security’ is an extremely strong +51,” they added.
The survey also found out that concerns toward Chinese workers as threats to national security are highest at Metro Manila with a net score of +38, followed by Luzon (+27), Mindanao (+21), and Visayas (+15).
SWS said they are maintaining sampling error margins of ±2.3% for national percentages, ±4% each for Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and ±6% each for Metro Manila and the Visayas.
The influx of Chinese workers came amid stronger relations between the two countries as President Rodrigo Duterte opted to mend ties with the Asian superpower.
This was after the previous administration chose to sue China for staying within the country’s territorial waters and for building structures in the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea.
Several illegal Chinese citizens, who are employees of various Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), have already been deployed for working without proper permits and documents.