BI warns foreign traders: Don't bring in kin to work in shops

The Bureau of Immigration has issued a warning to foreign businessmen bringing their relatives to the Philippines to help run their businesses, especially during the busy holiday season.

“This Christmas season, we are not only expecting the entry of illegal imported products but also foreign tourists taking up sidelines as store helpers,” Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said yesterday as he warned foreigners, who own businesses in the country, not to employ visiting relatives because they are only carrying tourist visas and not working visas.

Under the Bureau of Immigration laws, those with tourist visas are only allowed to stay in the country for 21 days and are not supposed to work and receive salaries.

The Bureau of Immigration has monitored that it is common practice for foreigner businessmen, mostly Filipino-Chinese and Indians to bring their relatives from their native countries and bring them to the Philippines to help them run their businesses.

Libanan’s warning cames amid reports from the BI’s field offices that there is noticeable presence of foreigners manning retail outlets in Chinatown in Metro Manila and in favorite shopping centers in the provinces. Storeowners often double their work force during the Christmas season.

The BI chief said that foreign businessmen should not bring in their relatives since there are Filipinos who are capable of performing these tasks. ‘Leave if you steal jobs from Pinoys. I will not allow foreigners to steal jobs from Filipinos.”

He said that hiring of foreign nationals is allowed only when the skills required are not available in the local labor force. Foreigners caught violating this law face deportation.

“When these foreigners take employment as storekeepers and office workers, they are depriving Filipinos of work for there is an abundant supply of these skills locally that we even export them to other countries,” he added.

Libanan said he is determined to put a stop to this practice as he pledged to protect the interests of Filipinos claiming that he strongly believes the government should take steps to make jobs available in the country to discourage Filipinos from leaving to work abroad.