Labor Department Confirms that Chinese Tourists End Up Working In Philippines
CHINESE TOURISTS – The Labor Department confirmed numerous Chinese tourists end up working in the Philippines.
Filipino and Chinese relationship started a very long time ago. They used to travel the seas to trade goods from each other’s country.
Some Chinese even decided to settle down in the Philippines because they like the country or initiate their buy and sell business technique.
Until this day, the Chinese still go to the country as students, businessmen, or travelers. We can see them almost everywhere even in a very secluded market.
Based on a report from CNN, during the first Senate committee hearing, the Labor Department revealed that a lot of Chinese nationals are currently working in the country.
These Chinese came to the Philippines with tourist visas but they allegedly stayed longer and ended up working.
The Labor Department granted 115,652 Alien Employment Permits (AEPs) to foreigners from 2015 to 2017. 51,000 of those permits are given to the Chinese foreign and in the past 3 years, 2,000 of them were in the construction jobs.
On the first three months of 2018, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said they gave AEPs to the 21,320 foreigners.
“There is indeed an upward trend,” said DOLE Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad.
According to the report, it is stated in the Labor Code of the AEP that the permit can only be issued if there is no interested or competent Filipino to initiate the job.
The Labor Department said if the job is highly-specialized technical, managerial work or supervisorial then they can be issued with the permit.
If the foreigners already have the AEP, they have to go through the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of justice to get their working visa.
Based on the report, the Senate Committee on Labor Chairperson Joel Villanueva doubted the issuing of permits. He noticed the disproportionate count of permits that are issued to the Chinese.
“Ang konti ng inissue na AEPs, pero it’s clear bumabaha ng illegal workers,” said Villanueva.
Senator Grace Poe gave warnings to the DOLE and the Bureau of Immigration for issuing permits knowing a tourist visa could only allow them to stay in the country for a limited time.
The Senators are going to investigate the issue and the involved agencies who allegedly let the Chinese in the Philippines without legal permits.
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