April 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Philippine authorities opened an investigation this Wednesday into the growing arrival of thousands of students from China to the province of Cagayan, in the north of the country and a few miles south of the coast of Taiwan.
Government data now places the number of Chinese citizens living in the area, located on the island of Luzon, at 4,600, in what Manila has described as a “stealth invasion” by Beijing. Most of them are enrolled in private universities in Tuguegarao City.
The spokesperson for the Philippine Army, Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla, has indicated that the authorities are analyzing the matter in collaboration with the Police, according to information from the newspaper 'The Philippine Star'. “The Army takes any report seriously, so we are investigating it,” she said.
For his part, Filipino deputy Robert Ace Barbers has described the situation as an “invasion” and has described as “alarming” this sudden arrival of Chinese workers, students, tourists and businessmen to the Philippines, a country that has a series of disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.
In this sense, he has warned that some of these foreigners have even obtained valid Filipino birth certificates, driving licenses and identification cards. “How is it possible that, in large numbers, they do not arouse suspicion in any organization?” Barbers said.
Thus, he recalled the case of thirty Chinese citizens who had managed to become part of the Philippine Auxiliary Coast Guard before being detected and expelled from the volunteer Corps.
