By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. has accused China of using more than 100 Filipinos in Hong Kong and Macau as leverage in a widening confrontation between Manila and Beijing, branding the reported immigration crackdown “plain and simple extortion and blackmail.”
Teodoro strongly condemned what he described as an attempt by Chinese authorities to interfere in Philippine law-enforcement processes while putting pressure on Filipinos working and living in Chinese territories.
“The action against 100 Filipinos is plain and simple extortion and blackmail,” Teodoro said, adding that Manila rejects both the alleged interference and what he called the “blatant blackmail against Filipinos.”
Chinese authorities, however, said their immigration personnel had taken action against more than 100 Filipinos allegedly working or residing illegally in Hong Kong and Macau.
China’s Foreign Ministry maintained that its officials acted according to standard procedures and protected the rights and interests of the foreign nationals involved.
But Teodoro dismissed the apparent linkage between the immigration action and Philippine law-enforcement operations against Chinese nationals in the country.
Teodoro pointed specifically to the arrest of Chinese nationals in May at Sanjia-Steel Corp. in Misamis Oriental over alleged activities involving potentially hazardous materials.
He stressed that Philippine authorities did not act arbitrarily.
The arrests, he said, were carried out on the basis of search warrants issued by Philippine courts, with those apprehended allegedly serving as principals of illegal enterprises.
Teodoro accused Chinese authorities of focusing on the suspects’ visas and passports while refusing to address the alleged illegal activities that prompted Philippine law enforcement to intervene.
He said that distinction was critical.
The issue, according to Teodoro, was not the nationality of the suspects but whether they had violated Philippine law.
The defense chief also rejected any comparison between the cases involving Chinese nationals in the Philippines and Filipinos facing immigration action in China.
He argued that Filipinos in China “have neither the intent nor the capacity” to commit violations on the scale allegedly carried out by the Chinese nationals arrested in the Philippines.
Teodoro went further, accusing the Chinese government of protecting the individuals targeted by Philippine authorities and describing that alleged protection as evidence of complicity.
The escalating rhetoric marks another sharp confrontation between Manila and Beijing, with immigration enforcement now becoming entangled with disputes over law enforcement, national security and the treatment of each country’s citizens.
For Manila, the issue is no longer simply about immigration violations.
The Duterte-era question of Chinese nationals operating in the Philippines has now collided with the treatment of Filipinos overseas—and Teodoro is making clear that the Marcos administration will not allow Filipino workers to become bargaining chips in that confrontation.
The message from the DND chief is unmistakable: Philippine law enforcement is not for sale, and Filipino lives and livelihoods should not be used as collateral.
ia/xf
