5 days ago
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Delon Porcalla - The Philippine Star
March 11, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Three local government units in Luzon should be investigated for granting 85 Chinese-owned companies licenses to operate along the coastal towns of the provinces of Zambales and Bataan, to the detriment of local fishing communities, Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said yesterday.
“According to one of my fishermen-sources, nearly all of the fisherfolk in these areas are about to lose their daily livelihoods because these Chinese nationals shoo them away from the shorelines. They are not allowed to use these shorelines that are now being rented by the Chinese,” Barbers said.
The Surigao del Norte congressman, who also chairs the House of Representatives’ quad committee, said he received reliable information from one fisherman that the Chinese-run firms were engaged in suspicious activities.
“If indeed these more than 80 Chinese firms were allowed to lease, operate and ‘exploit’ properties in those coastal towns, who or what government agencies have allowed them to operate and what type of businesses are they engaged in?”
Barbers’ call for an investigation came after Malacañang ordered a probe on allegations that arrested Chinese spies – Wang Ingyi, Wu Jaren, Cai Shaohuang and Chen Haitao – donated 10 Chinese-made motorcycles worth around $2,500 or P144,800 each to the Manila Police District.
He also cited reports on the presence for almost three months now of two Chinese ships off the coastal villages of Palauig town in Zambales, whose suspicious activities were apparently being ignored by authorities, including the local coast guard.
“These ships could be engaged in dredging activities, mining, smuggling and possibly drug smuggling. But the concerned law enforcement agencies are doing nothing about them. They’re sleeping on their job or may have already been paid,” Barbers added.
Meanwhile, an opposition senatorial candidate under the PDP-Laban party of former president Duterte yesterday said the increasing number of Chinese tourists visiting Manila demonstrates that economic relations between the Philippines and China “remain very strong.”
“There is no doubt that both economic and people-to-people relations between the Philippines and China remain robust, as evidenced by the surge in Chinese visitors arriving in Manila,” Raul Lambino said.
“We are counting on this growth in Chinese tourist arrivals to sustain the recovery of our tourism sector, which provides livelihoods for countless Filipinos,” Lambino, who also serves as chairman of the Association for Philippines-China Understanding Inc., said.
He was reacting to a Bureau of Immigration (BI) report stating that a total of 500,082 Chinese travelers arrived in the Philippines in 2024.
According to the BI, China was the third largest source of foreign visitors to the Philippines in 2024, after South Korea (1,761,281) and the United States (1,325,684).
