By Minka Klaudia Tiangco

Former Philippine National Police chief and senatorial candidate Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa said arrested illegal Chinese workers in the country should be given a chance to submit all needed requirements before they are deported.

Dela Rosa issued this proposal in a Hugpong ng Pagbabago campaign sortie in Navotas City on Tuesday.

“Illegal is illegal. Kung illegal, eh di dapat gawing legal. (If they are illegal, they should be made legal),” he said. “Dapat kunin lahat ng requirements na kailangan nila gawin para maging legal sila (They should submit all requirements needed for them to become legal).”

The former top cop explained that if these workers fail to comply with the requirements needed to become legal, then they can be deported, but he will leave the final decision to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

“Madali lang naman ‘yan, eh. Ilegal sila, eh di they have to be deported. Kung illegal, ah (That’s easy. They are illegal, so they should be deported. If only they are illegal),” he said.

“Pero kung may paraan na maging legal, na-comply nila ang requirements, so depende na sa Bureau of Immigration ‘yon. Depende sakanila, sila nagi-implement ng batas na ‘yon, eh (But if there is a way to become legal, if they comply with all the requirements, so that depends with the Bureau of Immigration. It depends with them, they are the ones who implement that law).”

Meanwhile, reelectionist Senator JV Ejercito said priority in local employment should be given to Filipino workers.

“We have to protect our Filipino workers. We have to give them priority at any given time,” he said.

Sen. Sonny Angara echoed this statement, saying that the government should implement provisions in the labor code which emphasize that Filipino workers should be prioritized when it comes to filling job vacancies in the country.

“Meron tayong provision sa batas, ‘yung labor code, na kapag may kwalipikadong Pilipino, hindi dapat mag-hire ng foreigners, so siguro implement nalang ‘yung nasa batas (We have provisions in our labor code that says if there are qualified Filipinos, foreigners should not be hired, so we should just implement the law),” he said.

President Duterte said illegal Chinese workers should be left to work here since having them deported may result to the deportation of about 300,000 Filipinos working overseas.

“Yung mga Chinese dito, hayaan mo ‘yan, nandito [para] mag-trabaho, hayaan mo. Bakit? (The Chinese here, leave them be, they are here to work, leave them be. Why?) We have 300,000 Filipinos in China. Kaya hindi ako makasabi, umalis kayo dito deport ka doon. Eh kung bigla paalisin don [300,000] of them? (That’s why I cannot say ‘Go away from here, we will deport you.’ What if 300,000 Filipinos are asked to leave their work abroad because of that?” he said during a PDP-Laban event in Biñan, Laguna on Saturday, Feb. 23. #MatalinongBoto2019