Senate probes execs’ accountability in influx of illegal Chinese workers

by Cecille Suerte Felipe with Evelyn Macairan, The Philippine Star, Feb 20, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — A joint Senate committee public hearing tomorrow will look into the possible accountability of several government officials for the influx of illegal Chinese workers in the country.

Sen. Joel Villanueva said the issue will be looked into by the Senate committees on labor, employment and human resources development and on justice and human rights to determine if local laws were violated in the deployment of illegal foreign workers in the Philippines and the influx of Chinese workers.

The committees also want to regulate the employment of foreigners in the Philippines.

Villanueva, chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development, said laws have obviously been violated with the presence of so many illegal Chinese workers in the country to the detriment of Filipinos who remain jobless.

“I want to point during the hearing the possible filing of cases. Heads should be rolling already, especially with the Bureau of Immigration (BI), even the Philippine National Police, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other government agencies,” he said in an interview with One News’ The Chiefs.

He added that the hearing also aims to establish what the agencies have already done to address the problem.

Villanueva pointed out that online gaming is prohibited in China, thus Chinese investors are putting their investments in online gaming in the Philippines, which still allows it.

In previous hearings, he revealed immigration officials admitted to have issued about 185,000 special working permits to Chinese nationals, who now work as waiters, cashiers and construction workers.

“It is clear that (laws have been broken). If I were in the executive branch of government, I’d probably be ashamed because if you go to these areas, you can see (Chinese) waiters, for instance,” he added.

When Villanueva’s committee started its probe last November into the influx of undocumented foreign workers, especially Chinese, in the country, it uncovered various loopholes in the government’s visa screening processes and the monitoring of aliens as well as the failure of agencies to coordinate that apparently are being exploited by Chinese seeking to work in the country. –