Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros on Sunday, April 21 said the Department of National Defense (DND), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and education authorities should be invited to provide more information about the reported influx of Chinese students in the province of Cagayan when the Senate conducts its own inquiry on the matter.

In an interview on Radio DZBB, Hontiveros said one cannot help but be suspicious about the presence of these foreign students in Cagayan considering it is one of the sites for the Philippine and American troops’ Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

Hontiveros earlier said she will file a resolution seeking a Senate probe on the matter to look not only on the possible violations of the country’s immigration proceses but also on the reported presence of Chinese nationals around EDCA sites.

The senator said she views the latest development as another national security concern that needs urgent attention and which the government must address.

“We need to ask the BI, is this another phase of the so-called pastillas scam, like what happened to Chinese POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) employees?” Hontiveros said in the radio interview.

“The DND should also be invited, precisely because one EDCA site is located in that province. So any and more possible resoure persons can be called to participate in the hearing to shed light on the issue and which would eventually be the basis of whatever recommendation we will come up,” she added.

Hontiveros also said she is keen on inviting the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to know the status of the enrolment of these Chinese students in Cagayan.

Reportedly, there are at least 4,600 Chinese students that were enrolled in one private university alone, a matter which Tuguegarao Mayor Maila Rosario Ting- Que had denied.

Mayor Ting-Que also described the issue of the increasing number of Chinese students in Cagayan as “racist and politicized.”

“That's right. So we will likely invite CHED to know the status of the enrolment of these Chinese students; provide comments regarding the information reported by one of the teachers in the province,” thte senator said.

“We need to be enlightened especially on the context of our plans for our higher education, not only for foreigners but also for our own young Filipinos,” she pointed out.

Against this backdrop, the Chinese embassy in Manila had defended the presence of Chinese students in the area claiming that “cultural and people-to-people exchanges have always been the most enduring and dynamic component of China-Philippines relations.”

But Hontiveros said if China is serious about promoting “people-to-people” exchanges, it should have been evident and exercised in the West Philippine Sea, where the Chinese Coast Guard has been evidently harassing Philippine and other foreign vessels.

“If they were promoting people-to-people exchanges, then shouldn’t they show it by improving their people-to-people relations in the seas? Where until now they continue to threaten and harass our fishermen, Coast Guard and Philippine Navy?” she pointed out.