Amid the warning of China to its students to reconsider studying in the Philippines due to security reasons, the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) has a candid reply to what its Ministry of Education claimed to be “frequent crimes” targeting Chinese in the country:

“Who are the perpetrators?”

PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III emphasized that in almost all criminal cases that the police investigated involving Chinese as victims, the perpetrators would turn out to be Chinese too—either as brains of the criminal activities or in cahoots with local criminal elements.

“We respect the opinion of the Chinese officials pero isa ang maliwanag dito na nakikita natin sa bansa natin, nag-aaway away rito Chinese ang biktima, Chinese ang perpetrator kaya we are being used as a battleground (We respect the opinion of the Chinese officials but one thing is clear here, they [Chinese] quarrel among themselves here in the country. Chinese are the victims and the perpetrators are Chinese too. So, our country is being used as their battleground),” said Torre in a press briefing at Camp Crame.

He was reacting to China’s advisory issued last week wherein it urged its students to “carefully assess security risks” and “strengthen safety awareness” before heading to the Philippines.

“Recently, public security in the Philippines has been unstable, with frequent crimes targeting Chinese citizens. The Ministry of Education reminds all students studying abroad to carefully assess security risks when choosing to study in the Philippines and to strengthen safety awareness,” the advisory read.

But citing the results of the investigation involving Chinese nationals, Torre said there appeared to be a clear pattern: “Ang ating mga naaresto Chinese suspects. Ang kanilang mga biktima Chinese nationals din (Those we arrested were Chinese suspects and their victims are Chinese nationals too).”

‘Sampol’

In the press briefing, Torre cited the case of Wang Danyu, alias Bao Long, who was arrested in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi on July 19 on his attempt to go back to the Philippines using the southern backdoor.

Torre said Bao Long is facing a murder case before a Makati City court for a killing that happened in October last year.

Based on the background investigation, Torre said Bao Long was also involved in the kidnap-slay of Anson Que and his driver as intelligence reports pointed to him as in company with the woman who negotiated for ransom with the Chinese-Filipino businessman’s family, identified as Gong Wen Li.

“Gong Wen Li was already arrested, what’s her nationality? And who is the victim?,” Torre emphasized.

At the height of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGOs) in the Philippines, cases of kidnapping and kidnap-for-ransom sharply increased and the investigation of the police’s Anti-Kidnapping Group revealed that the both the victims and perpetrators of the kidnapping and kidnap-for-ransom are Chinese nationals.

Intervention

Torre said they are now conducting police intervention to prevent criminal activities involving Chinese nationals in the country.

“We will not allow them to continue doing these criminal activities in our country. So at the end of the day we are doing everything to stop this narrative, to stop this situation and we are now showing the results,” said Torre.

And that results, according to Torre, showed that both the victims and suspects in the crimes are Chinese nationals.

Torre then said that the advisory of China’s Ministry of Education that painted a bad image on the Philippines has no basis.

In fact, he said one of the recent accomplishments of the PNP is the arrest of six Chinese who perpetrated a crime against their fellow Chinese.

“So essentially, we in the PNP can actually say that we are on top of the situation,” said Torre.

Fake news victim

Torre insinuated that China could have been a victim of fake news as he revealed that there is an ongoing social media campaign in the country now to paint a bad image on the Philippines in terms of peace and order.

One of the modus, he said, is to post criminal incidents in the past and make it appear that those crimes just happened recently.