13 Chinese tourists nabbed for working at mall in Pangasinan

CITY, Philippines—Immigration agents on Wednesday arrested 13 Chinese tourists who were found working in a shopping mall in Urdaneta City in Pangasinan province.

Jose Carlitos Licas, chief of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) intelligence division, said the Chinese tourists, consisting of five men and eight women, were held at 168 Mall in Urdaneta City at 2 p.m.

He said most of those arrested had no visas to work in the Philippines.

They were selling fashion accessories, clothes and other items in the mall.

Arrested were Wanshuang Wang, 29; Wanyu Xu, 26; Xiuzhen Zhang, 39; Yingying Shi, 31; Jianmin Wang, 19; Junrong Qiu, 23; Zhihe Wang, 23; Shangfu Qiu, 25; Jinlong Wang, 23; Weinan Zhang, 27; Yunyin Wu, 26; Dongri Cai, 30; and Ronghan Cai, 34.

Licas said those found to have violated Philippine immigration laws and regulations would be deported. He said the Chinese tourists were taken to the BI field office here to verify their immigration status.

Immigration agents are still trying to find out the date of arrival in the Philippines of those arrested.

“Some of them can already speak Filipino. So, we have to really verify their immigration status here,” Licas said.

He said this was the only operation against illegal aliens in Pangasinan so far. But he said in Metro Manila, operations are ongoing.

“This is our agency’s intensified program against illegal foreigners. We call this, ‘Good guys in, bad guys out,’” Licas said.

Gilbert Lopez, alien control officer of the BI field office here, advised foreigners in Pangasinan to update their visas to avoid legal troubles.

He said there is now at least 1,000 foreign students enrolled in 50 schools in the province and at least 1,100 foreign permanent residents, who report to his office annually.

At least 200 foreign tourists also come to the BI office here every year to have their visas extended, he said. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon