2M foreigners flee PH due to COVID-19

Around 2 million foreigners, among them nearly 300,000 Chinese, flew out of the country in the first nine months of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said on Monday. Topping the list of foreigners leaving the Philippines were Koreans (400,000), followed by Americans (300,000), Chinese (300,000) and Japanese (166,000), according to Morente. He said immigration records showed that about 500,000 Chinese were still staying in the country. “In 2020, due to the pandemic, for the first time, we’ve seen more departures of foreign nationals than arrivals,” Morente said. —Marlon Ramos