DOLE still checking Chinese workers in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is still verifying the actual number of Chinese working in the country.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said he is awaiting reports from DOLE’s regional offices on the alien employment permits (AEPs) they have issued.

Based on DOLE data, 115,652 AEPs were issued by its regional offices from 2015 to 2017 – 51,980 of them to Chinese workers.

Bello stressed that AEPs were issued to Chinese and other foreign workers whose jobs cannot be performed by local workers.

The number of AEPs issued to Chinese workers doubled from 9,109 in 2015 to 18,920 in 2016. The figure further rose to 23, 951 in 2017.

Aside from Chinese workers, the number of Japanese and Koreans working in the country also increased to 12,177 and 11,780, respectively.

DOLE said the increase in the number of AEP issued to Chinese workers was due to the growth in administrative and support service activities as well as professional positions that require Chinese-speaking workers.

The agency, however, admitted that there may be more Chinese workers without AEPs.

At this time, DOLE is coordinating with the Department of Justice in regulating the entry of foreign workers. Data from the Bureau of Immigration showed that 1.8 million Chinese entered the country from 2015 to 2017, a yearly average of 615,000.

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said it is trying to identify “loopholes” in government policies that allowed the rising number of foreign workers.

93 Chinese nabbed at gaming firm

Meanwhile, at least 93 Chinese and 11 Filipinos were arrested during a raid on an online gaming firm’s office in Pasig City yesterday.

The raid was conducted after the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) received a certification from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. that Finasia Tech Inc. has not been accredited by PAGCOR’s offshore gaming licensing department.

The NCRPO’s Special Operations Unit carried a search warrant issued by Judge Encarnacion Moya of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 146.

NCRPO chief Director Guillermo Eleazar said the Chinese were directly involved in online gaming while the Filipinos were janitors and workers.

“The Chinese nationals do not have their passports with them. They are only armed with identification cards so we don’t know how is their status in the country,” Eleazar said. – Non Alquitran