Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday said there was no need for legislators to intervene to stop the influx of Chinese nationals illegally working in the Philippines.
Guevarra admitted that there were problems in the implementation of immigration laws on foreign workers, but said these could be addressed through closer coordination between the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole).
Due to the surge in illegal Chinese workers, a proposal was made in the Senate to strip the BI of the authority to issue special work permits.
No need to amend聽 law
But Guevarra opposed this.
鈥淭his issue can be addressed in a faster way without amending the (immigration) law,鈥� he said.
During a public hearing last week, Sen. Joel Villanueva who chairs the committee on labor and employment, blamed the bureau for the surge of illegal Chinese workers, many of whom have been caught working in gaming operations.
Removing BI鈥檚 discretion
Villanueva proposed removing from the BI the discretion to admit foreign workers through special work permits.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a question of which agency should be solely responsible for the issuance of special work permits; the issue is how to tighten up the rules (on special work permits),鈥� Guevarra said.
鈥淭he BI and Dole only need to work together on this,鈥� he said.
One problem he identified is the failure to 鈥渕onitor the movement of each and every foreign worker鈥� after the expiration of their special work permit from the immigration bureau, or of their long-term alien employment permit issued by the labor department.
To control the entry of foreign workers, he suggested issuing a 鈥渘egative list鈥� of countries whose nationals would be barred for short-period employment.
He said he would discuss the matter with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
Guevarra exercises supervision over the immigration bureau, which is attached to the Department of Justice.
A foreigner given a special work permit can work here legally for six months.
Duterte cautious
Foreigners who are hired for highly technical, specialized, supervisory and managerial jobs that cannot be fulfilled by Filipinos are given an alien employment permit that allows them to stay for longer than six months.
This developed as President Duterte cautioned against deporting Chinese workers in the Philippines, saying he is also concerned about the 300,000 Filipinos working in China.
鈥淭he Chinese here, just let them work here, just let them. Why? We have 300,000 Filipinos in China,鈥� he said in Bi帽an City, Laguna, on Saturday night.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I cannot just say, 鈥楲eave, I will deport you.鈥� What if the 300,000 are suddenly kicked out, just like in the Middle East?鈥� he said.