Sinophobic VP
Vice President Leni Robredo is now dipping her fingers into the presence of Chinese workers in the country as she suggested a temporary ban while calling for an examination of policies on them.
Robredo as a public official should exercise a sense of fairness in what she utters and should realize that her statement is discriminatory as it is directed towards one nationality.
She stated that many of the Chinese workers employed by Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) had entered the country without work permits.
She then asked the policy toward Chinese workers, particularly those working at casinos, be reviewed and even suggested barring them from working in the Philippines.
Her expressions not only revealed her incipient anti-China sentiment but also made known her ignorance about the economic transformation which led to the influx of migrant workers into the country.
Since the investment climate has vastly improved since President Rodrigo Duterte took over, foreign investors of all types had formed a beeline — and that included the gaming companies.
What should be probed though are the operations of the online gambling firms since there are blatant violations of laws, both local and those in China.
Even the Chinese embassy suspects illegal activities since the online gambling outfits target only the Chinese. The foreign mission then indicated that if their citizens operate the gambling firms, then these are outright illegal since Chinese law forbids gambling.
Robredo’s sweeping suggestion of a ban on the entry of Chinese labor apparently was with regard to unfounded suspicions about military spies being deployed as POGO workers and the upcoming meeting of the President with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
To scrounge for media mileage at the expense of the rights of immigrants is reprehensive for a vice president of a country of 10 million or more Filipinos who work overseas.
Government officials should be sensitive about the words they utter since they supposedly represent the entire country in whatever they say on the conduct of other countries or nationalities.
The Chinese government is similarly concerned about some of its citizens being illegally recruited in POGO outfits and being lured into working in the country with only tourist visas.
The correct call should be for cooperation between the Philippines and Chinese governments to address the POGO phenomenon since Beijing suspects the gambling operations are used for laundering dirty money.
The two countries evidently are similarly affected by the quick rise of online gambling, which Robredo and other similar officials who have a paranoid view of progress are amplifying.
How stupid it would be for the Chinese military, for instance, to stuff their supposed spies in the POGO and be easily detected.
Most probably, the suspicions are being generated by this new kind of business which is not familiar to many.
Almost the same paranoia was present when the business process outsourcing boom (BPO) started.
The skeptics said BPO firms will not contribute much to the economy since these were merely after Filipinos without any other input into the economy.
Now those who had severely criticized the new form of business are eating their words since BPO firms now account for $25 billion yearly to the economy and it spawned an explosion in the real estate and retail businesses even outside of Metro Manila.
Robredo and her yellow cabal would always seize anything that will offend China and Rody in their unswerving aim of getting back to power preferably through the assistance of the United States.
The loser in Robredo’s cynicism is the country’s effort to win more businesses as investors are largely allergic to xenophobia.
The Vice President should let the economy progress without it succumbing to the imposition of unreasonable bans fed by false paranoia.
“Government officials should be sensitive about the words they utter since they supposedly represent the entire country in whatever they say.
“Her expressions not only revealed her incipient anti-China sentiment.