While no official numbers have been made available on Chinese arrivals in Manila, some news reports said that offshore gaming operators in the Philippines employ about 200,000 workers, predominantly Chinese, and more than half of them have arrived in the capital region since late 2016.
The Bureau of Immigration said it couldn’t immediately provide the data. But the presence of mainland Chinese in Boracay, casinos, online gaming stations, restaurants, farm communities, and the mining industry, among others, signifies China’s creeping invasion with consent under the current administration.
This reminds us that prior to World War II, Japanese who were spies selling/buying bote, garapa, taho, fish, and vegetables turned out to be military officials.
Immigration should be alerted to thousands of Chinese working in buildings in Ayala and Ortigas Center. Toyota vans with “OG” stickers transport Chinese workers from condominiums to their work site and vice versa.
They are like Chinese missiles in the Philippine exclusive economic zone. Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said such missiles are not directed at us, but as former national security
adviser Roilo Golez warned, we should not believe China’s “sweet talk.”
ISIDRO C. VALENCIA, elcidvalencia60@gmail.com