Civic leader Teresita Ang See has lamented the "ugly face of Sinophobia and racism" in the country following the move of the government to look into the reported influx of Chinese students in Cagayan.
Ang See said the speculation on the influx of Chinese students in a university in Tuguegarao City was "dangerous and unfortunate."
"The past days’ preoccupation with deliberate fanning of Sinophobia and racism by politicians and media spreading baseless whodunits of 'students as spies' is dangerous and unfortunate," Ang See said during the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City on Saturday, April 20.
"Politicians, opinion makers, our military, and police scramble to ride on the issue without checking the facts," she added.
She stressed that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said there is a “significant number” of Chinese students at the university "without qualifying what is significant relative to the total student population."
It also failed to give context that it is the only university given authority by CHED and Bureau of Immigration (BI) to accept foreign students, she added, citing that the number of foreign students (of all nationalities) in the university is "486, far from the 4,600 reported."
She added that the "baseless and deliberate fanning of negative news" on the influx of Chinese students only exacerbates the ongoing geopolitical tensions arising from our maritime conflict with China.
"The baseless and deliberate fanning of negative news on 'influx of Chinese students' serves only to exacerbate the ongoing geopolitical tensions arising from our maritime conflict with China," Ang See said.
Ang See, who is the founding chair of the Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order, further said that the government's move also discourages Chinese students from coming to the country to study.
"Neighboring countries take measures to entice Chinese tourists and Chinese students who wish to improve their English to better qualify for higher studies outside China. We, on the other hand, discourage them from coming by exhibiting blatant racism and racial profiling," she said.
The National Security Council said on Saturday that it will look into the reported influx of Chinese college students enrolled in a local private school in Cagayan to determine if their presence poses a security threat.
“Our intelligence units have been assigned to take a look at the situation there (Cagayan) para alamin kung (to determine if) is this actually a national security threat, or is it just a case of students who want to go to the Philippines to study,” NSC Assistant Director Jonathan Malaya said in a separate news forum in Quezon City.
READ MORE: NSC probes reported influx of Chinese students in Cagayan