President Marcos clarified that there are no stricter visa rules for Chinese tourists entering the country but the government will strictly enforce the existing rules to ensure that there would be no fraudulent applications.

Marcos said this after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced earlier this month that it is tightening its requirements for Chinese nationals applying for Philippine visas to counter the increasing number of fraudulent applications the Philippine embassy and consulates are receiving.

In an interview in Cagayan de Oro City, the President said that there cannot be a special set of rules for a certain nationality.

"Walang stricter rules kahit sa kanino (There are no stricter rules for anyone)," he told reporters on Thursday, May 16.

"Pare-pareho lang ang rules sa lahat ng ating mga kaibigan (We have the same rules for all our friends)," he added.

Marcos explained that the government will strictly enforce the same rules for everyone.

"What we will do is to more strictly enforce. Whereas dati hindi natin masyadong tinitingnan, nakita natin maraming nagiging problema dahil diyan nakakakuha sila ng mga peke na dokumento (We were not checking that much but we saw that there were many problems so they were able to acquire fake documents)," he said.

"Gagandahan namin ang enforcement doon sa examination doon sa mga nag-a-apply ng visa o doon sa mga nagko-convert doon sa tourist visa na student visa, at yung mga bumibili ng lupa dahil [nagpapanggap] sila na Pilipino sila (We will carefully examine the visa applications and those converting their tourist visa to a student visa, and those buying land because they are pretending to be Filipinos)," he added.

Marcos lamented that due to the lax processing of visa application, foreigners who turn out to be scammers or traffickers are able to enter the country.

"Kaya titiyakin natin na kung mayroon talagang papasok ay huwag natin — tiyakin natin na talagang tama naman sila (That's why we're going to make sure that if there's someone who want to enter the country that they're doing it the right way)," he said.

"Huwag silang [nagpapanggap]. Basta nakapasok na sila, [magpapanggap] sila na Pilipino sila, maligawanag na hindi. Alam natin na hindi sila Pilipino. Unang-una, hindi marunong mag-Tagalog (When they come in, they should not pretend to be Filipinos when it's clear that they're not. First of all, they can't speak Tagalog)," he added.

The DFA earlier explained that the move to tighten its visa policy for Chinese nationals is not related to national security issues.

According to the DFA, visa applicants will be required to submit a social insurance certificate as proof of their identities. Other requirements include bank statements, a notarized letter of support from a host in the Philippines, if applicable, and hotel and airfare bookings.