The Bureau of Immigration “pastillas scandal” is just the latest in a long line of controversies surrounding President Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot to China.

Detained Senator Leila de Lima stressed this on Tuesday referring to the “payola” system employed by some Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers in extorting money from Chinese visitors to allow them “unimpeded” entry into the country.

The bribe money is rolled in a white bond paper, resembling a “pastillas,” a local delicacy.

De Lima said these scandals include the: then appointment of Chinese citizen Michael Yang as presidential economic adviser; the billions in dollars of questionable infrastructure agreements entered into with China in October 2016 under China’s Belt and Road Initiative; the grant of research access to Benham Rise; the proposed joint exploration deal in the West Philippine Sea; the broadcast of Chinese shows on government-owned television; the deliberate compromising of national security and state secrets with the installation of Chinese communication facilities inside AFP properties; the take-over of the strategic Fuga, Grande, and Chiquita islands by Chinese companies; the fishing agreement that surrendered our EEZ to China; the questionable award of critical projects, e.g. Kaliwa Dam, to state-owned Chinese companies with dubious records; among others.

“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we must repeat over and over again and remind our countrymen that our country is being turned into a Chinese province by the Duterte administration,” she said.

“This is not only a pivot to China, but the transformation of the Philippines into a Chinese satellite,” the opposition senator said.

De Lima added, “We are being overwhelmed by this gigantic shift in our national policy which has been otherwise fully dedicated to fending off Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea and maintaining alliances to counter Chinese domination in the western Pacific rim.”