SURIGAO del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers expressed alarm over continues reports of seemingly both unexplainable and inexplicable presence of Chinese workers, businessmen, tourists, and now students, in the country.
During the hearings of various committees in the House, Barbers and several other Representatives already called out on the PNP, PDEA, NBI, Immigration, DFA, PSA, LTO, Philippine Coast Guard and other agencies of government for the disturbing discoveries accidentally unearthed in those hearings, of Chinese nationals obtaining Filipino birth certificates, driver’s licenses, UMID cards, passports and even accreditations and membership into our armed services particularly the Philippine Coast Guard.
“The only sure thing right now is that corruption at its worst has eaten us up. This is the only logical explanation. If these Chinese nationals can get all these accreditations and buy our agricultural and private lands, acquire and lease properties and other assets, enroll in our universities on the pretext and cover of exchange student programs, work here without permits, obtain loans from our banks then abscond or leave the country without a trace, then we are drafting our epitaph as a nation. We only have ourselves to blame. The greed for money and power is killing this country. Unless we move now, we will see ourselves controlled by invaders tomorrow”, Barbers warned.
“How can foreigners, not individually, but in groups illegally obtain documents otherwise exclusively reserved for Filipinos, without the connivance of Filipinos? How can they in large numbers not arouse suspicion to any agency unless the people responsible have been blinded by money or are grossly incompetent and ignorant. Birth certificates have become now a useless piece of document, rendered so by the indiscriminate issuance of bogus certifications by unscrupulous employees of the government, rendering this otherwise valueable document worthless. Philippine passports have also been issued. What is the DFA, the National Printing Office and the Central Bank have to say about this? We were told that they are tamper proof and the printing of which is well guarded. So how come these Chinese nationals were able to get genuine Philippine passports? And now, student visas. The BID, DFA and the CHED which is particularly laden with incompetent and corrupt officials, must be made to account for these seemingly “normal” trend, but is actually a national security concern. What are large numbers of Chinese students doing in areas close to EDCA sites? If they really want to be schooled on Philippine culture, they will enroll in Manila, not Cagayan. There was mention of student exchange program allegedly sanctioned by CHED. I have been saying this all this time, CHED has a lot of officials who engage in politicking using the state universities and colleges to advance their political plans. These officials have to go. They have become part of this big security threat. All these officials and employess of these various agencies are complicit in this treacherous crime”, Barbers said.
The solon urges no less than President BBM to arrest this very scary development by firing incompetent and corrupt officials and employees or suspend them right away while serious investigations are being conducted by the Executive Department as well as by Congress.
“There is no time to spare. This state sponsored “creeping invasion” has been happening for years, not just yesterday. I thought that we only gave away a shoal, I didn’t know that the entire country may also be a subject of an agreement. The Chinese probably misunderstood it when it was verbally made. They probably thought “shore” not shoal”, Barbers added.
