PH military to probe presence of Chinese students on EDCA site

PH military to probe presence of Chinese students on EDCA site

MANILA, Philippines: The Armed Forces on Wednesday vowed to investigate the presence of Chinese students seen near an area in Cagayan that has been placed under the US Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

Security experts said the presence of the Chinese students near one of the EDCA sites could pose a national security threat amid the growing tension in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) sparked by China’s incursions.

Last year, the government acceded to the US request to increase the EDCA sites from five to nine, two of which are in Cagayan: Naval Base Camilo Osiers in Sta. Ana town, and Lal-lo Airport in Lal-lo municipality.

Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, AFP spokesman, said the military will coordinate with concerned government agencies to include the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“The AFP takes this seriously, so we are looking into this,” Padilla said at the Bagong Pilipinas briefing.

“But in terms of peace and order issues, that is the mandate of the Philippine National Police, so we’ll be working with them closely on these matters. So investigations will be on their end then the AFP will be extending our assistance accordingly,” Padilla said.

The PNP, through its spokesman, Col. Jean Fajardo, said it has not received any complaints involving Chinese but will have “no problem in enforcing the law since it was part of the PNP’s job.”

Reports indicated that some 4,000 Chinese have enrolled in private universities and rented homes for 10 years in various locations in Tuguegarao.

The Chinese have also established a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) hub in Cagayan.

The unabated entry of the Chinese in Cagayan province caught the ire of its 3rd District Rep. Joseph “Joao” Lara initiating a resolution for an investigation on the matter, as this could put the country’s security at risk in the light of China’s incursions in the WPS.

To find out about the Chinese presence in Cagayan, considered a vital point in the country’s archipelagic domain, Rep. Lara coordinated with the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency (NICA) for it to dig deeper into what was a national security issue.

He also coordinated with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Bureau of Immigration (BoI) on the supposed suspicious possession of government-issued documents like birth certificates, passports and Immigration registration IDs.

Lara revealed that each Chinese student in Cagayan paid P1 million for the trip, with 80 percent of the amount going to an agent, the remaining 20 percent going to the school.