Palace ‘threads cautiously’ as it studies ‘win-win’ solution to illegal Chinese workers in PH
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2019 07:00:10 +0000
MALACANANG is “threading cautiously” and studying how it could come up with a win-win solution to the proliferation of illegal Chinese workers in the country, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte opposed their deportation.
In a speech during a PDP-Laban event in Laguna on Saturday evening, Duterte said it was best if the Philippines would not deport the illegal Chinese workers because there were illegal Filipino workers who also benefitted from China.
In a text message to The Manila Times, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said the government would look into solutions that would benefit both Philippines and China.
“We are threading cautiously and studying how to go about a win-win solution given our countrymen’s situation in China,” Panelo said.
He said that with the thousands of Filipinos staying illegally in China, its government may enforce a “tit-for-tat” policy.
Panelo also said that the Chinese workers in the country may be skilled workers, “that we may need in the meantime since we are short of a supply of workers as most of them have found work abroad.”
On Saturday, Duterte warned that the thousands of illegal Filipino workers in China may also be deported if the Chinese here would be deported.
“The Chinese here, let them work. Let them be. Why? We have 300,000 Filipinos in China. This is why… [Maybe, the Chinese tell the Filipinos] to get out of here, we will deport you,” Duterte said.
“So, what will happen if the [300,000] are deported?” he said.
Duterte’s statement came a few days after the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development resumed its investigation into the influx of Chinese illegal workers in the Philippines.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said that 85,496 of the 169,000 alien employment permits issued from 2015 to 2018 were given to Chinese.
Duterte said in November that he was not okay with the Chinese workers in the country, saying there should be “an arrangement” there.
“So if you think that you are at a loss, at a disadvantage because there are so many Chinese nationals working here. Remember that we have the same equal amount of people — Filipinos who are there working in China. But they did not deport anyone, so maybe you can just tell them to go home,” Duterte said in a media interview following the inauguration of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport in November 28.
“Otherwise, if you start to get rough on this issue, there is a distinct possibility that it will also happen to you. So you know when you sail your ship of state, you avoid turbulent waters,” he added.
Malacanang voiced support last week to the measure that would ensure the registration of foreign and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) with the Bureau of Internal Revenue before their licenses may be renewed.
Panelo said the proposal would show a solid figure on the number of illegal Chinese workers in the country.
“That’s a good measure to determine exactly how many Chinese nationals who are here in violation of our laws. I think, what the BIR commissioner said was good,” Panelo said in a press briefing last Monday.
“[The government] is not alarmed, maybe the BIR just wants to determine the number of nationals. This is because it is connected to the declaration of income, so we can collect the correct corporate tax,” he said.
The BIR had voiced the possibility of joining an interagency task force that would check and monitor the number of Chinese nationals working in the online gaming industry.
The BIR, in September, issued Revenue Memorandum Circular 78-2018, which stated that all foreign and Philippine-based POGOs should register with the tax agency as a prerequisite. RALPH EDWIN U. VILLANUEVA
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