Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Thursday (Aug. 20) asked the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to deport two Chinese nationals for selling beauty products tagging the country’s capital a province of China.
This was after he ordered the closure of several establishments in Sto. Domingo, Binondo for the mislabeling that he said counts as misrepresentation.
The Chinese nationals, identified by authorities as Shi Zhong Xing and Shi Li Li, owners of Elegant Fumes Beauty Products, Inc., were also found to be violating rules and regulations of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because they do not indicate the "batch/lot number" and "name and address of the company or person responsible for placing the product in the market” on the packaging of their products.
The Manila mayor said the erroneous label is “unacceptable.”
“Ang Binondo ay bahagi po ng Maynila, at ang Maynila ay Pilipinas. Ang Maynila ang kapitolyo ng bansa. Hindi po ito probinsya ng China. At ni minsan, hindi ito naging bahagi ng Tsina sa ano mang lahatlain o kasayasayan na naitala sa panahon natin at sa panahon ng mga ninuno natin (Binondo is a part of Manila, and Manila is a part of the Philippines. Manila is the country’s capital. It is not a province of China. And not even once did it become a part of China in any article or written history during our time and the time of our ancestors),” he said in a mayoral address.
“Hindi po ako governor ng China. Mayor po ako ng Maynila, Philippines. ‘Yan po ang address ng Maynila. Maynila ay Pilipinas, at ang Pilipinas ay malaya. May sariling soberentiya (I am not a governor of China. I am the mayor of Manila, Philippines. That is the address of Manila. Manila is in the Philippines, and the Philippines is free. It has its own sovereignty),” he added.
Domagoso also slammed the foreigners he said are disrespecting the country’s sovereignty.
"Hindi natin hahayaan ang mga superpower na 'yan na parang tayo ay pinipitik-pitik lang sa mata at binabalewala nila ang soberentiya ng ating bansa (We will not allow these superpowers to just flick our eyes and disregard the country's sovereignty)," he said.
Bureau of Permits and Licensing Office Director Levi Facundo said they will revoke the mayor's permit of the corporation. The FDA is also set to cancel Elegant Fumes Beauty Products, Inc.'s license to operate.